In Cosmo's Shadow
by Kellie Fay
Summary: Sequel to "A Seedrian Grows on Mobius" and "Moving on" Everyone needs time to adjust when Shadow moves into the neighborhood.  Especially Shadow.
1. Chapter 1

In Cosmo's Shadow

By Kellie Fay

Sequel to "A Seedrian Grows on Mobius" and "Moving on" Everyone needs time to adjust when Shadow moves into the neighborhood. Especially Shadow.

Disclaimer: Sonic, Shadow, Tails, Cosmo, and the others all belong to SEGA, Team Sonic, 4 Kids and other people not me.

Please Read ""A Seedrian Grows on Mobius", and "Moving on", before beginning this story. Otherwise you won't know why Cosmo is alive, and how Shadow ended up on Mobius."

Chapter 1

The small village made up mostly of Sonic's friends shone out a single bare spot within the dark forest. Sonic sniffed, and could smell the dinner Amy promised him in preparation. "Most of the area is unclaimed except in the villages," He said from the cliff feeling his quills bristling at a cool breeze. He turned to look at his dark reflection staring out into the virgin wilderness. He didn't look like he was listening, but Sonic knew that underestimating Shadow was always a mistake.

"Amy, Cream, and Tails live in the village just north of the waterfall. If you want to gather food in the forest there is no rule stopping you, but you can trade favors for food too. Amy and Cream's mom have gardens just outside the village. I just usually trade errands for food."

"So where do you live?" Shadow asked absently.

Sonic wondered why Shadow would want to know that. He pointed west of the tiny village below them. "I have a place a mile that way. I want to be nearby if I'm needed, but I like my space. Most of the time I'm not even there, I like to go wherever the wind takes me."

"And I can build in any unclaimed part of the forest?" Shadow asked

"Yep!" Sonic answered cheerfully. What do you have in mind, Shadow?"

He watched Shadow take careful note of where Sonic's home, was, and where the village was. He pointed deep into the forest on the opposite side of the village from Sonic's house. "That way," He said simply.

_Translated, as far away from you as feasible,_ Sonic thought with a chuckle. "Whatever you want," he said grinning broadly.

Building a house went easier than Shadow thought. Once Tails knew he didn't plan on living in the village supplies materialized almost by magic. Shadow decided that living away from the village had been the correct decision. No one seemed to want him around anyway.

Sonic checked on him twice a day. Shadow suspected that; one, the hedgehog wanted him to feel welcome, two, Sonic was definitely keeping an eye on him, and three, Sonic, for some reason, chose to act as a buffer between him and everyone else.

Every morning Sonic stopped by in the middle of his morning run, and asked Shadow if he needed help, or just anything. Every morning Shadow politely said no. In the afternoon Sonic always dropped by with a basket of sandwiches and fruit, and always another offer to help build his home. Always Shadow said no."

Shadow built himself a simple little house. He only had two rooms. One room contained a bed a chair, a table, and a few places for storage. Sonic couldn't help but be impressed that Shadow put together this nice tidy little home in less than three weeks.

"Nice place," Rouge said when she looked around. "It could use a woman's touch though."

Shadow simply glared at her. Sonic couldn't help but grin. Shadow's home was sparse. Sonic didn't expect anything else. Shadow believed things needed to be functional only. He made a mental note to make sure if Amy decided to visit that she didn't push her designs on him.

"What's in that room?" Rouge asked. She moved to open the door only to have Shadow beat her to the door blocking her entry.

"It's not for you," Shadow said curtly. Sonic looked at the pair surprised at the mild warning, but Shadow's expression, however told a different story.

_Rouge, drop it right now and forget the room, or Shadow is going to be very unhappy, _Sonic thought hoping Rouge could hear him. He asked to when he first noticed Shadow built a small extra room attached to his home. Shadow either ignored the question or right out ordered Sonic not to talk about it. Sonic didn't know what to think, but his impression of Shadow told him that the hedgehog was a very private person, and didn't share any information readily. Only subtle and persistent coxing would get the strange powerful hedgehog to open up to anyone.

Rouge gave Sonic a puzzled frown, but she dropped asking about the room. Just then a knock was heard at the front door. Eager to change the subject Rouge said, "This is turning into a real housewarming party."

To keep Shadow from opening the door, and snapping "what," like he did when Sonic showed up, Sonic zipped over and opened the door himself. To his surprise Cream and Cheese were there with a big basket covered by a blue dish towel.

"Hi!" Cream said brightly moving past Sonic up to Shadow and handing him the basket. Sonic's nose could detect fresh muffins and fruits. "Vector told mother that you were almost done with your home, and I thought I'd bring you a housewarming gift!"

Sonic tried not to laugh watching an embarrassed blush creep up Shadow's cheeks. "Thank you," he said. Shadow always seemed to feel uncomfortable with Cream's positive cheerful personality.

"So you gonna share Shadow?" Sonic asked. With his metabolism, he'd take whatever eats he could.

Shadow glared at Sonic then at Rouge. "Does he ever stop eating?" He asked.

"The blue bottomless pit?" Rouge asked, "not that I've seen."

Now Sonic blushed. It was no secret that he could and would eat almost anytime anywhere.

"Mother put some sandwiches and muffins in there, but please Sonic don't eat any of the star fruits. I could only get four of them, and Mr. Shadow hasn't tried any yet." Cream said.

"Four? That's a lot of star fruits," Rouge observed."

Sonic sighed, but grabbed a sandwich, and left the four small yellow green fruits within the basket. Cosmo, just recently began producing wonderful sweet red and pink flowers that had the most intoxicating scents. It was the Seedrian's gift to them. If left alone the flowers would produce a small yellow green plum-like fruit that tasted almost like the flowers. Since Tails still didn't know that Cosmo's spirit resided in the little tree grown from her seed, the others agreed to simply call Cosmo a Star Tree. Naturally the fruits were called star fruits, and Sonic and the others guarded the fruits, and its producer. Right now only Cosmo's tree produced the fruits. Within the fruits would be a small white seed. The others began planting these seeds also, but it would be years before these trees could bear fruit. Right now they decided the rare delicious fruits would only be distributed by Cosmo herself. You simply visited Cosmo, and if she chose to she would drop the ripe fruit into your hands.

"That's what I got," Cream said. "The Star Tree had lots of pretty flowers and fruit right now."

"Star Tree?" Shadow asked puzzled.

Sonic thought fast and came up with an abridged version of what they knew. "After you punched me I came to, and saw something white flying by me. I grabbed it, and saw it was a white seed. I didn't see any sign of Cosmo anywhere, so I gave the seed to Tails. He's been growing it. A year ago, we transplanted it outside. A few months ago it began to produce flowers and fruits.

Shadow picked up one of the palm sized fruits in his hand. He couldn't resist breathing in the sweet scent from the fruit. He gently bit through the skin of the fruit intending only to nibble at the flesh. Sonic watched Shadow's eyes widen, and finish the fruit in three bites.

Sonic couldn't help but laugh now. Shadow glared at him, but chose not to threaten him. "I've never tasted anything like it." He admitted.

"Enjoy it while you can pal," Sonic said. "Right now that tree is the only one producing that fruit. We've been planting the seeds, but basically we ration the fruit."

"I see," Shadow said looking wistfully at the remaining three fruits. He spit the seed into his palm. "I suppose you want this then."

"Amy thinks we should just toss the seeds into the forest where they can grow," Cream said happily. That way in the future we'll have lots of star fruits."

"Very well," Shadow said. He handed Cream the seed. "If you wish to, you may plant the seed on the north side of my home.

The little rabbit smiled broadly. "Oh I will Shadow! I will!" With that both Cream and her chao raced out the door.

Both Sonic and Rouge chuckled "Welcome to the neighborhood," Rouge said.

Coming Soon Chapter 2

The Darkness Within

"NO!" Shadow bolted up in the bed. Something dark and hedgehog shaped drew closer. Desperate to keep that evil version of himself from destroying everyone he attacked. Nothing mattered but killing that thing that used to be him.


	2. Chapter 2

In Cosmo's Shadow

By Kellie Fay

Disclaimer: Sonic, Shadow, Tails, Cosmo, and the others all belong to SEGA, Team Sonic, 4 Kids and other people not me.

Chapter 2

The Darkness Within

Finally Shadow managed to convince Sonic and Rouge to leave. He decided to live so far out of the village to discourage visitors. Of course not even halfway across the planet will be far enough to discourage Sonic. Once alone Shadow went out to survey the area. Everything seemed quiet and peaceful, but Shadow didn't trust that peace.

Still evening came quickly here, and while they did have electricity it wasn't abundant like in Chris' world. Once the sun went down unless something important had to be done most everybody went to bed.

Shadow didn't need to sleep every night, but he always felt better if he slept regularly. Egg-man and Rouge always told him the same thing. With that thought Shadow closed the shutters of his windows, kicked off his sneakers and climbed into bed.

_He saw himself out in a devastated city full of The Black Arms. Screams were still in the distance of both human and alien suffering. Usually screams of terror drew his attention, if only to find and stop its source, but his image stayed where he was, the noise apparently unimportant. Behind him he saw Black Doom. He felt the oozing coolness that always tried to penetrate his brain in the alien's presence. Easily he shook off the creature's influence, but he seemed unable to leave, and watched Black Doom speaking with his image._

"_Shadow, Let me share with you a piece of your past. It is filled with nothing but hatred and contempt for the humans." _

"_Hatred and contempt… for the humans." His image repeated robotically. His eyes closed his breathing slow. Shadow always suspected that if he listened to Black Doom more, his influence would penetrate the protections around his own mind. Watching himself now comfortable in this alien's presence Shadow knew that his other self was falling under its control. _

"_You were the ultimate life form, but the humans feared you, and wanted to destroy you, and they did. Now you must amass revenge on those humans. Unleash your anger and ultimate powers on them!"_

_Shadow watched the eyes of his image which usually held a bright fire of independence and life, grow dull like dried blood. The expression on his face blank, he simply absorbed Black Doom's words without thinking. Then on his face a deep frown appeared showing only his anger and hatred welling up from inside. _

"_No you idiot!" Shadow tried to tell himself. "Try to remember what you were made for! Don't listen to Black doom! He's just trying to manipulate you!"_

_The world dissolved around him. Suddenly he was floating in space, along with Black Doom and himself again. He could already tell that the hedgehog that floated docile and quiet at the alien's side no longer possessed independent thought. He only waited to absorb whatever his master intended for him to believe. _

"_So, you finally come to realize just how abominable these humans are. It's time to make all final preparations for our ritual. Hidden inside that Space Colony ARK is the most powerful weapon able to pierce stars, The Eclipse Cannon."_

"_Piercing ….the stars." The entranced hedgehog repeated. _

"_What fools, humans created the Eclipse Cannon to protect themselves from terror. Instead it will be used to destroy mankind. Now Go."_

_Shadow again tried to reason with his other self. "Destroy Mankind? No! That's not what you supposed to do! Why are you listening to him? Why are you obeying him like you're nothing more than his toy?"_

_But Shadow could do nothing, but watch himself mount a winged Black Alien, and fly off to do his master's bidding._

_He saw himself fighting against GUN, fighting against Sonic, who tried again and again to make him see that he was under Black Doom's control, but the Shadow Hedgehog he saw bore almost no resemblance to himself. This was no more than a mindless servant of the Black Arms. He heard Black Doom's words, and he and Sonic both shivered at their meaning. _

"_Annihilation for this planet is near. It is time to embrace the dawn of your demise and despair."_

_He saw himself deliver the finishing blow to the hedgehog who always in the past no matter their differences would greet him with a smile. He watched Sonic fall, and ask, his voice showing no anger only sadness. "Shadow, why… why are you siding with them?"_

"_I'm Shadow the Hedgehog, the ultimate life form born to protect and serve the Dark Lord Black Doom. With the power of these emeralds this world will become the Dark Empire. This is who I am! _

"NO!" Shadow bolted up in the bed. Something dark and hedgehog shaped drew closer. Desperate to keep that evil version of himself from destroying everyone he attacked. Nothing mattered but killing that thing that used to be him.

"Shadow, wake up!" A voice called, but he ignored the voice determined to stop his evil self. Something grabbed his shoulder, but he shrugged it off. The Shadow Hedgehog dropped to the floor, and kicked him off causing him to topple over his adversary landing on his back. He rolled over determined to destroy his dark doppelganger when suddenly a wave of water splashed in his face.

"Shadow, wake up! You're having a nightmare!" This time Rouge's voice penetrated his mind. He blinked, and looked up at the bat confused. A light flashed on, and through the shadows Shadow saw blue quills.

"Sonic?" Suddenly Shadow knew what happened. _I dreamed that I saw myself as evil. I attacked Sonic thinking he was me_.

Sonic's voice sounded winded, but gentle "Shadow? You awake this time?"

Shadow tried to get his traitorous breathing under control. Attempting to keep his voice steady Shadow said, "I'm awake."

More lights joined the flashlight in Sonic's hand. Now he could clearly see Sonic standing behind Rouge. The bat looked highly annoyed, and had a bucket at her feet.

Suddenly he realized that he sat on the floor, water dripping from every quill. He tried to hide the flush that crept up his cheeks. What did they have to do to stop him?

Sonic peeked out from behind Rouge. "You back with us Shads?"

Shadow nodded. "In...In the darkness, I thought you were me."

"You were trying to kill yourself?" Rouge asked puzzled.

Shadow suddenly realized how crazy that sounded. He swallowed and tried to make his voice sound normal. "Never mind, it was just a dream"

"Consider I almost got trashed waking you up from it, I think I deserve to hear the whole thing." Sonic said. Shadow looked up at Sonic puzzled. Sonic didn't sound angry, just tired.

Now he couldn't help the flush that moved up his face. He didn't want to talk about it, but Sonic at least deserved an explanation. "I dreamed about Black Doom," he said, trying to keep it short."

"Yeah," Sonic said, indicating that the one sentence wouldn't cut it.

"Shadow felt his ire growing. How humiliating! "I could see him talking to me, telling me about the humans. Telling me why I should destroy them, and I believed him. I could see myself falling deeper and deeper under his influence until I was nothing but his slave."

Sonic knelt down, and placed his hand on Shadow's back gently. Shadow resisted the urge to shove the hedgehog away. "None of that happened, Shadow. You saved everyone."

"It could have," Shadow said shivering at the thought. "Every time he spoke to me I could feel him trying to get into my head, trying to get me to stop thinking, and simply act out."

"But you didn't let him," Sonic said confidently. "You beat him Shadow."

He nodded, but he couldn't feel anything except that chilling fear. Sonic didn't understand. He didn't know how Shadow could feel that creature try to ooze its way into his brain. Rouge knelt at his side now a towel in her hand.

"Here," she said handing the towel to him. "I had to use a bucket of water to snap you out of it. I don't want you to catch cold."

Shadow didn't think he could catch a cold, but he did feel cold, so he began to dry off. He rose to his feet now taking the opportunity to just shrug Sonic's hand off his back. "I'll be fine," he said trying to sound normal again.

"Uh huh," Rouge said not sounding very convinced. She glanced at Sonic who gave her a quick wink and a smile. What were those two planning?

"Well since you're fine, I'll be on my way home," Sonic said. He moved to the door, and then before he left he looked directly at Shadow, and said, "If you need anything at all, just let me know." With that he vanished back into the night.

Shadow looked at the door puzzled at first. Sonic always told him that, but this time he could feel the emotion behind the words. Sonic worried about him. Not a surprise, the nightmare, and its aftermath worried him to. How did Sonic know he was having a nightmare anyway? He turned to ask Rouge when he saw her pulling his one comfortable chair over next to his bed. "What are you doing?" He asked.

Rouge just gave him a smile. "I'm the bat. I can stay up," she informed him. "You need to go back to bed."

Going back to bed didn't have much appeal, especially if he was going to dream again. "I'm not tired," he said, trying to suppress a yawn.

"Uh huh," Rouge said with a smile. "Big tough Ultimate Life Form is afraid of nightmares?"

Now he bristled with annoyance. "I don't need a baby sitter Rouge. Go home."

Rouge sat down in his favorite chair looking very comfortable there. "Well if you're going to throw me out, I might feel obligated to swing by Sonic's house, and tell him about that other little problem you have with sleeping."

Shadow's eyes went wide, and he visibly tried to suppress the shiver he felt. "You wouldn't dare!"

Rouge kept smiling. "Tell Sonic that the Ultimate Life Form sleepwalks on occasion? You bet I will."

"It was only twice," Shadow complained.

"That we know about," Rouge countered.

"The Doctor said I was never violent,"

"That was before Black Doom," Rouge said, now sounding stern. "Shadow, you nearly killed Sonic because of that nightmare. I know he's going to have bruises in the morning. What happens if you decide to go out for a little midnight stroll and end up in the village?"

She was right of course. He knew it, but he didn't want a baby sitter. He felt so helpless.

Rouge got up from the chair, sauntered behind Shadow, and ran her fingertips along his shoulders making his whole body quiver and his head snap up to attention, and his eyes open wide. "It won't be so bad," she breathed into his ear sending chills down his spine. "I'll even give you a backrub to help you relax."

Shadow tensed. He hated having people touch him, he didn't know why. He knew logically that Sonic did so to offer comfort, and he tried not to be ungrateful, but people touching him made him want to squirm, and run away. Rouge made things worse, because the way she touched him made his brain turn off. Part of him actually craved her fingertips along his arms and back, but at the same time he wanted to pull away and run. Even now he couldn't remember how to make his voice work to tell Rouge to back off.

"No," he managed to force out. "Rouge, don't do this to me."

Rouge paused puzzled, she then asked directly. "Shadow what's the matter; I thought you liked my backrubs?"

"I want to be able to think," he said not really knowing why he needed to tell her. "I need to be in control."

He didn't think she understood, but she moved her hand anyway. "The nightmare?" She asked. Shadow didn't know, but it sounded right, so he nodded. "I'm sorry," She said then. She took his hand and simply led him back to his bed. "Look you need to get some more sleep. How about I just sit here, and tell you a story to help you relax."

He didn't want to sleep anymore but he knew he had to. Reluctantly he lay down, and Rouge sat down in the chair drawing it closer so she could keep holding his hand. "I'm not a child, I don't need a bedtime story." He scowled at her.

Rouge didn't let his mood bother her. "You'll love this one. I'm gonna tell you how GUN caught me, and I met up with Topaz."

Shadow sighed, but he didn't protest. Rouge kept his hand firmly in hers while she spoke. Shadow wondered about Rouge's ulterior motive. This wasn't the first time she tried to talk him to sleep. Once he found out that he walked in his sleep he tried not to sleep at all. Egg-Man must have said something to Rouge, because she'd sit and talk with him. She'd pitch her voice low almost to a whisper that would work like a lullaby causing him to fall fast asleep.

He could hear her talking now, talking about searching for a Chaos Emerald. Her voice soft, and her thumb rubbed against his palm sending pleasurable little sensations to his brain. His eyes dropped closed on their own accord, and the next thing he knew he felt the sun warm on his face, telling him that he overslept.

Shadow sighed. Something other than the first nightmare happened last night. He could feel it even if he couldn't remember it. He opened his eyes trying to remember the vaguely disturbing dreams he had after Rouge talked him to sleep. He didn't remember waking, but he found Rouge in his bed with her holding on to him. Even though Rouge didn't stir when he woke, he felt a blush creeping up his cheeks. Unbidden a memory came to him of Maria holding him like that on the ARK.

"_Easy, Maria, give the medicine time to work," Professor Gerald said placing a cool damp cloth to Maria's forehead. Shadow watched worried seeing tears form in Maria's eyes. _

"_Grandfather, can Shadow stay with me please?" Maria asked sadly. The Professor let a single breath of air out, but he nodded, and boosted the young hedgehog up to her bed. Maria took Shadow into her arms like a living plush animal, and cuddled him. Shadow understanding relaxed, and held onto Maria until the medicine took effect and she fell asleep._

Shadow blinked allowing the memory to fade. Many times Maria treated him not only like her little brother, but her favorite stuffed toy. There were many nights she and he fell asleep in each other arms.

_And if Rouge ever finds out I will never get rid of her,_ Shadow thought to himself. Very carefully so not to wake her, Shadow moved out of the bed. His stomach reminded him that breakfast was overdue, so he decided to go out to look for something he could eat. On his front door however was a note.

_Hi, Sonic said you'd help me with some heavy lifting today. Come by whenever you're ready, and I'll have something for you to eat. Thanks. _

_Tails. _

He must have really hurt Sonic last night. Sonic usually helped Tails in his workshop. To admit he couldn't do something grated on the blue hedgehog, just like it grated on his nerves. _I caused the problem, now I have to pick up his slack. Still it's better than staying here with Rouge._ With another sigh, Shadow opened his front door, and went out running towards the village.

Coming Soon Chapter 3

The Star Tree

"_I wish I could touch and smell real flowers," Maria said sadly. "But you're paper ones are beautiful too, and they won't make me sick."_

_Shadow then smiled broadly at Maria. "Well one day the professor will make you well. Then we'll go to earth, and I'll bring you every flower that exists."_

"_Oh Shadow," Maria hugged him tightly laughing, and Shadow hugged her back."_

A hand on his, and a gentle voice calling his name brought him out of the memory. He turned to see Sonic looking at him worried, gently forcing his hand back to his side.

"We asked you not to pick the flowers," Sonic said softly. Shadow wondered why Sonic was suddenly so leery of him, when he realized that he must have been ignoring them during his flashback. He glanced around and realized that Amy and Tails were watching from the safety of the workshop. Suddenly dizzy Shadow pulled his hand away from Sonic's and put it to his head.


	3. Chapter 3

In Cosmo's Shadow

By Kellie Fay

Disclaimer: Sonic, Shadow, Tails, Cosmo, and the others all belong to SEGA, Team Sonic, 4 Kids and other people not me.

Chapter 3

The Star Tree

A sweet floral scent greeted him when he got within visual distance of Tail's workshop. He peered inside to see Tails working at his computer, with Sonic peering over his shoulder. Sonic heard him first, and greeted him like always with a smile. "Morning Shadow," he said. Tails turned around, and nodded a greeting.

"It's almost noon," Shadow felt compelled to tell him. Sonic grinned like he knew full well why Shadow came so late. He ignored Sonic and faced Tails. "I just got your note. What can I help you with?"

Tails needed some large sheets of metal moved, and held in place until Tails could use his crane to hold them. Shadow welcomed the work. It kept his mind off his dreams last night, except for the brief moments where he saw Sonic's back. Along his left lower back to his second set of quills, Sonic sported an ugly purple bruise. Realizing it was his fault, Sonic got injured Shadow quietly did whatever Tails needed him to do. Sonic kept his front to Tails at all times, suspiciously hiding the injury, until Amy Rose came by.

"Hey guys," she greeted them cheerfully. "I brought you some sandwiches, and The Star Tree dropped six fruits for me. I'm not sure why we need the extra, but – Sonic! What the heck happened to your back?"

"Huh?" Tails now moved directly behind Sonic to take a look, and Sonic let him knowing the ruse was over. "Sonic! What happened?" Tails asked worried.

"Oh that?" Sonic tried to sound completely casual about it. "I took a tumble last night, no biggie."

Shadow wished they could drop it, or change the subject, but Amy insisted on fussing over Sonic. She made a poultice of herbs for his bruise and bandaged it up keeping a steady commentary on how he had to take better care of himself. Sonic tolerated Amy better than Shadow expected. On one off hand glance at Sonic his blue reflection just grinned and shrugged.

Then Shadow realized why Sonic was indulging Amy and her mothering. The more she fussed and paid attention to Sonic, the less both she and Tails paid attention to him. Shadow made a mental note to find a way to thank Sonic for drawing attention away from him.

"Well now I know why there are two extra star fruits," Amy said confidently. She passed two to Tails and Sonic, and handed one to Shadow.

Shadow already developed a fondness for this fruit, and eagerly began to eat his. It reminded him of the scent in the air that greeted him when he arrived. He closed his eyes to relish the delicate flavors, and only opened his eyes again when he heard Sonic chuckling. "Don't give me that look," the blue hedgehog teased. "You're no better than the rest of us when it comes to Star Fruits. If there were more of them I'd think we'd all eat ourselves sick on them." One Star Fruit seed already rested in Sonic's palm. He bit the second one in half and tossed the seedless half to Shadow. "Here think fast!"

Shadow caught the fruit half one handed, and popped the whole thing in his mouth. "They are certainly like nothing I've ever tasted before, and I suppose those are the flowers I smell nearby?"

"We don't pick the flowers," Amy said firmly. "We want all of them to develop into fruit."

"Then the tree must be very near," Shadow said.

"I made a place for The Star Tree just out back" Tails said, blushing a little. "It gets lots of sun there."

Shadow nodded then moved to the back door of the workshop where he could easily see a lush green tree six feet tall. The branches were full of thick deep green leaves, and dozens of pink and red flowers. In awe Shadow found himself moving forward until he stood directly under the tree completely enveloped in the drooping branches. The smell of the flowers intensified here. Shadow wanted nothing more than to stand here forever just breathing in the scent of the blossoms before him. Each one seemed unique and beautiful. Maria would have loved them.

_Shadow saw Maria looking at the origami flowers he made for her birthday sadly. She had smiled, hugged, and thanked him earlier. "You really don't like the flowers," he said, feeling hurt. "You just said you liked them to be nice to me."_

_Marie noticing him dropped the paper flowers on the table, and drew him into a hug. "Oh no Shadow, I love the flowers they really are very beautiful, but I was just wishing they were real flowers and not just paper."_

_Shadow thought he understood. Even little things like flowers could make Maria very sick. She wasn't allowed to have real flowers, and the only reason she could be around Shadow was because he had been created here on the ARK. A puppy or a kitten from earth could make her sick to. _

"_The professor said you couldn't have real flowers," Shadow said. He wondered if they could grow flowers here on the ARK for her._

"_I know," Maria said hugging him again. "And I do love your paper flowers. In one of grandfather's books it said that some flowers have wonderful scents that attract bees and butterflies to them."_

"_Why do they do that?" Shadow asked. _

"_The bees and butterflies help the flower make fruits and seeds so they can grow more flowers." Maria explained. _

"_I wish I could touch and smell real flowers," Maria said sadly. "But you're paper ones are beautiful too, and they won't make me sick."_

_Shadow then smiled broadly at Maria. "Well one day the professor will make you well. Then we'll go to earth and I'll bring you every flower that exists."_

"_Oh Shadow," Maria hugged him tightly laughing, and Shadow hugged her back."_

A hand on his and a gentle voice calling his name brought him out of the memory. He turned to see Sonic looking at him worried, gently forcing his hand back to his side.

"We asked you not to pick the flowers," Sonic said softly. Shadow wondered why Sonic was suddenly so leery of him, when he realized that he must have been ignoring them during his flashback. He glanced around and realized that Amy and Tails were watching from the safety of the workshop. Suddenly dizzy Shadow pulled his hand away from Sonic's and put it to his head.

"Are you okay? You kinda spaced on us for a while." Sonic asked.

"I remembered something," Shadow said absently looking back at the flowers with longing. When he realized that Sonic still seemed nervous he said, "don't worry it was a good memory."

Sonic relaxed. "Good," he said then dropping his voice he said, "Shadow I'm glad your memories are starting to come back, but you've got to be careful. We don't want a repeat of last night."

Shadow nodded, feeling horrible. How in the world could he stop his flashbacks? Did he even want to? He wanted his memory back. He wanted to understand so many things.

He grunted and moved past Sonic to go back into the workshop. Sonic simply sighed and smiled and followed him in.

Inside Shadow knew that the mood had changed for some reason. Tails now watched Shadow cautiously out of the corner of his eye. Amy glared at Shadow out right. Shadow sighed, and kept his mind on the work Tails asked him to do. Sonic tried to communicate to the others that everything was all right. He didn't even look at Shadow. He lounged on the floor with his eyes closed, and kept up a steady commentary about almost nothing.

Shadow had a feeling that Sonic didn't fool his friends in the least. When he was done he quickly excused himself, and planned on leaving, but the beautiful little tree captured his attention again. He didn't get lost in his memories a second time, but the scent of the tree kept him dazzled until Sonic woke him up again. "Do you want to talk about it?" Sonic asked.

Without understanding why he did so, Shadow spoke. "Maria was never allowed real flowers. The only ones she could have were paper ones made for her. She always wanted to smell and touch real flowers." He managed to keep from admitting that he made paper flowers for Maria, but speaking about the memory didn't break him free of the spell the little tree cast on him.

Suddenly one of the yellow green fruits from the tree dropped from the tree directly in front of Shadow. Instinctively Shadow reached up, and caught the fruit. Behind him he heard Sonic laugh. He turned to ask what was so funny when Sonic pointed back to the tree and said, "Look!"

A single perfect flower slowly fell from the tree. Like with the fruit Shadow reached out, and caught the flower before it fell to the ground. Shadow couldn't resist. Before he could think about his actions he put the flower to his nose, and took in a deep breath. The scent filled his mind, and for a brief moment the entire world disappeared.

"Hey didn't we tell you -" Amy's sharp scolding voice snapped Shadow out of the spell. He opened his mouth to explain, but Sonic beat him to it.

"Relax, Amy. Shadow didn't pick it. The Star tree dropped the flower on her own. All Shadow did was catch it." Sonic explained

Amy seemed to be shocked. "The Star Tree dropped a flower?" She asked. Shadow wondered why this surprised her when Tails cleared things up.

"The Star Tree never dropped leaves or flowers before. You don't think it's sick." Tails asked worried.

Shadow managed to shake the tranquil feeling from the flowers, and start thinking again. Sonic had that annoying smug smile on his face like he knew something nobody else did. "Nah, the tree is fine." Sonic said confidently. Shadow frowned now. Sonic sounded too confident. He knew something, and Shadow wanted to know what.

Coming Soon

Chapter 4

Hedgehogs With Issues

"Hey Shadow," Rouge said cheerfully. "So are you done lifting for Tails?"

"What do you think you are doing?" Shadow asked her.

Rouge shrugged. "I thought I'd like a little roost here for a while. Don't worry you'll hardly know I'm here."

"You are not going to be here," Shadow insisted. "Don't you have a home near the Master Emerald?"

"I wanted a change of scenery," Rouge insisted. Shadow didn't buy that for an instant. It would take an act of Chaos for Rouge to abandon a gem even if it didn't belong to her.

"I don't know what you and Sonic are cooking up, but I don't need a baby sitter," Shadow insisted.

"Sonic? What does he have to do with anything?" Rouge asked. "Unless you want me to go fly by his house, and have a little chat with him."

Shadow seethed. "That's blackmail!" He accused.

Rouge simply smiled. "I like to call it creative persuasion."


	4. Chapter 4

In Cosmo's Shadow

By Kellie Fay

Disclaimer: Sonic, Shadow, Tails, Cosmo, and the others all belong to SEGA, Team Sonic, 4 Kids and other people not me.

Chapter 4

Hedgehogs With Issues

Sonic fled from Shadow's mind the moment he returned home that evening. Immediately he noticed a new structure in one of the trees twenty feet from his home. Shadow prepared to jump up into the trees to investigate when suddenly Rouge flew by carrying a bag.

"Hey Shadow," Rouge said cheerfully. "So are you done lifting for Tails?"

"What do you think you are doing?" Shadow asked her.

Rouge shrugged. "I thought I'd like a little roost here for a while. Don't worry you'll hardly know I'm here."

"You are not going to be here," Shadow insisted. "Don't you have a home near the Master Emerald?"

"I wanted a change of scenery," Rouge insisted. Shadow didn't buy that for an instant. It would take an act of Chaos for Rouge to abandon a gem even if it didn't belong to her.

"I don't know what you and Sonic are cooking up, but I don't need a baby sitter," Shadow insisted.

"Sonic? What does he have to do with anything?" Rouge asked. "Unless you want me to go fly by his house, and have a little chat with him."

Shadow seethed. "That's blackmail!" He accused.

Rouge simply smiled. "I like to call it creative persuasion.

Shadow glared at her then stormed into his home. There he fetched a drinking glass from his cabinet, filled it halfway with water and placed the flower from the Star tree into the water. Once his makeshift vase was ready he went into his separate room, and placed the single flower on the table. He sat down in the large comfortable chair and just watched the flower for a while.

After an hour he came out to see Rouge looking at him oddly waiting for him. "What were you doing in there?" She asked.

With a customary scowl, he turned to her and said, "None of your business."

Rouge shrugged and then asked. "Well what are we doing tonight?"

"We?" He asked.

"Well I could take a walk to see Sonic by myself, but I don't think you want that." Rouge said smiling.

Shadow groaned and took a deep breath, and resigned himself to a long night.

Naturally Rouge stayed late into the night. It wasn't until Shadow got into bed himself did he realize she did all that to keep him distracted. Shadow didn't know what to do about her. He shook his head and lay down on the bed hoping he would not dream tonight.

A strange fruity scent woke Shadow the next morning. He opened his eyes to find himself in his special private room. _What am I doing in here? _ He asked. A feeling of dread fell over him instantly. He did still sleep walk. What could he do about this?

After some toast for breakfast, he went to go gather some supplies from the forest. On his front porch in a little cup made of woven leaves sat three of the flowers from The Star Tree in water.

_Please don't tell me that I did that last night and I can't remember it!_ Shadow pleaded with himself. He didn't know what would be worse, getting caught picking flowers they don't want him to pick, or just getting caught sleepwalking period. Desperate for an alternative explanation Shadow scanned first the ground by the porch. He didn't see any tracks, not even his own. Now puzzled Shadow scanned the edge of the forest. Just for an instant his sharp eyes saw a flash of blue, yellow and bright red in the trees, and then nothing.

_Cheese,_ Shadow instantly recognized the colors of Cream's little chao. _And where the chao is his mistress isn't far behind._ So Cream and Cheese broke protocol, and picked the forbidden Star Flowers. Shadow reached down, and picked up the little temporary cup. _How in the world did they learn I liked the Star Flowers, and why would they pick them for me?_ Shadow debated reporting the little rabbit's faux pas, but considering that Cream chose to favor him, he decided not to say anything about it. He took the flowers inside, and placed them with their companion in his water glass in his special room. Only going back into that room reminded him that he woke up there this morning with no memory of how he got there.

_I've got to get out of the house and clear my head. I mean what could go wrong in the middle of the forest? _

Shadow should have known his day was going downhill from that moment on. Later that afternoon gathering nuts and roots in the forest he heard loud voices near the floating island. His ears better than anybody else could clearly Amy's loud voice saying something from above. Shadow wondered briefly why they were arguing when suddenly he heard his own name. Without thinking twice about it Shadow made a leap he knew Sonic couldn't even do, and landed squarely on the island. Once there he quietly crept closer to hear the conversation.

"Not open for discussion," Sonic's voice sounded angry and sharp. Sonic looked prepared for a fight. His quills pointed straight back and his arms were crossed over his chest looking crossly at Knuckles and Amy standing together on the lowest steps of the Alter of the Master Emerald. Between Sonic and the others Rouge sat on a nearby rock.

"Sonic, just answer the question, did you get hurt because you were fighting with Shadow?" Knuckles demanded.

Shadow winced wondering how Knuckles found out about that.

"No," Sonic insisted. Shadow couldn't help but be impressed. Sonic didn't intend to give anything away in his expression.

"Sonic, you have to stop protecting Shadow like that. Something happened between you two. Why did you get so nervous when Shadow spaced out like that? Amy asked.

Knuckles turned to Amy confused. "Shadow spaced out?" He asked.

"It wasn't anything bad" Sonic said flatly. Shadow knew Sonic talked more than that. He began to feel like Sonic deliberately kept his answers short to keep from saying too much.

Knuckles closed his eyes, and shook his head allowing his ruby quills to sway, and sighed. "Sonic I know when you invited Shadow to come with us you said you'd be responsible for him, but if something is really wrong with him we deserve to know!"

_Sonic said what?_ His first reaction was that he didn't need anyone being responsible for him, but Shadow suddenly knew what Sonic and Rouge were both doing. They chose to play the part of an extra barrier between him and the others. When Amy accused Sonic of protecting him she was right to an extent. _I know he's lying about the bruises. He's trying to keep me from hurting the others, but at the same time he's trying to keep the others from knowing that I could go off the deep end, and hurt someone. Sonic intends for him to be the only one getting hurt._

Rouge sighed. "It's called Post Traumatic Stress Disorder," she said sharply.

"That's a mouthful," Amy said. "What does it mean?"

For a long time nobody said anything. Sonic and Rouge exchanged a long serious look. Shadow almost felt like there were words going between them that he couldn't hear. Finally he heard Rouge say,

"Basically Shadow has been under a lot of emotional stress for a really long time." Rouge explained. "Ultimate Life Form or not, no one should have been put through the hell he's been though. Topaz once told me a lot of her friends that have been in really bad long term combat get it. They need a lot of time and a lot of help to deal with it."

Now Knuckles growled. "In other words we've got an unstable super powered hedgehog running around loose."

Shadow hated to admit it, but Knuckles was right. He shouldn't be alone loose among people. To his surprise Sonic snapped at the echidna.

"That's not funny Knuckles! It's not his fault. You don't know what he's been through!"

"Sonic take it easy," Amy said.

"You guys just don't know," Sonic said a little calmer. "Whether or not he wants to admit it, Shadow needs us."

"We should talk to Espio" Knuckles said. "A lot of that ninja stuff he does he says has to do with understanding the mind."

"If you want to go ahead," Sonic said. "But right now I think the important thing is giving Shadow his space, and helping him with the things he still can't remember. That's why I picked him up a little present for him."

Shadow didn't want to hear about the present, and he knew where Rouge was for now, so he jumped down off the island, and went home. To his surprise he found Rouge sitting on his front porch. "It wasn't what it looked like," she said.

"It looked like a bunch of people who say they're my friends were talking about me behind my back." Shadow snapped, glad to have someone around to take his own frustrations out on.

"Amy told Knuckles about the bruises Sonic had. No matter what Sonic would tell her she wouldn't believe him, so she dragged him to Knuckles. I dropped by when they really started going at it."

"I don't need you and Sonic protecting me," Shadow said sharply. "I can take care of myself."

"That's not the issue," Rouge insisted. She tilted her head slightly. Shadow wondered what went through her mind when she suddenly said, "You know if anything happens with you the others are going to blame Sonic. It was his idea to invite you to come with us."

Shadow heard the implication clearly in her tone. "It wasn't a unanimous vote?" He asked.

Rouge shook her head firmly. "It wasn't a vote at all. Sonic didn't even ask the others. While we were up at the Ark helping you Sonic told us he was going to invite you. He practically bowled everyone over with his opinion to make sure no one would argue with him."

Shadow wasn't sure he understood. While up at the ARK back in the human dimension, Sonic made the offer casually, and after some thought Shadow decided that Sonic's world would be better for him. The others didn't appear to have other opinions, and he always believed that the invitation had been by consensus. "Why?" Shadow asked.

Rouge shrugged. "You got me. Not that I argued with him, but that hedgehog must have had some reason. Knuckles asked Tails about it. He giggled, and said Sonic probably decided to adopt you."

"What?" Shadow snapped.

"I think it was some kind of in joke," Rouge said quickly putting a hand on Shadow's arm. "Knuckles laughed, and said, he should have known, and after that didn't argue with Sonic about it."

"I see," Shadow wondered if he could get Knuckles to tell him what the joke was. "Perhaps I should ask Knuckles then."

Coming Soon Chapter 5

A Visit to a Guardian

Shadow sighed, and turned to leave when Knuckles said, "Now can I ask you something?"

Shadow had a bad feeling he knew what Knuckles wanted. "It wasn't intentional." He said, bracing himself for Knuckles' reaction."

"You did fight with him," Knuckles said, sounding angry.

"It wasn't a fight," Shadow answered.

Knuckles didn't answer for a few minutes. Shadow wondered if he shouldn't leave when Knuckles said, "Okay then explain what happened."


	5. Chapter 5

In Cosmo's Shadow

By Kellie Fay

Disclaimer: Sonic, Shadow, Tails, Cosmo, and the others all belong to SEGA, Team Sonic, 4 Kids and other people not me.

Chapter 5

Visit to a Guardian

The next day Shadow decided to drop by the Master Emerald to see Knuckles. Knuckles didn't appear to be around when he arrived by the ruins, but if one needed an act of Chaos to keep Rouge away from the Master Emerald, it would take the destruction of the universe to get Knuckles to abandon his post, so he waited.

He couldn't help but fix his eyes on the giant glowing Master Emerald. The chaos energy felt different from the single chaos Emerald he kept in his home. They allowed him to keep one emerald, partially in thanks for saving the galaxy after the Metarex war, and partially for planning ahead. Once he decided to move here with the others Sonic and Knuckles presented him with the red emerald, 'just in case.' The little red emerald put out a small trickle of chaos energy that felt like a pleasant hum in the back of his mind. The Master Emerald radiated not a trickle of energy but huge waves that felt like basking in bright sunlight. He couldn't resist the urge to simply close his eyes and revel in the pulses of energy. He relaxed into the energy easily feeling his heartbeat begin to sync with the gentle throbbing of the emerald before him.

"What are you doing here?" Knuckles harsh suspicious voice woke Shadow from the spell of the Master Emerald. He opened his eyes to see Knuckles standing in front of him, his hands balled into fists. Shadow suspected that Knuckles didn't forget their last confrontation back on the Blue Typhoon.

Shadow decided quickly the less said about that fight the better. "I need to ask you something," he said. If Knuckles was going to be short and to the point he could be too."

Knuckles eyed Shadow suspiciously. "What," he asked.

"Rouge said that Tails told you that Sonic decided to adopt me back on the ARK, and you seemed to understand it. I would like you to explain it to me."

Knuckles eyes widened, and he almost laughed, when he took a second look at Shadow, and got tense. "Why do I get the feeling that Sonic's life is on the line if I say the wrong thing."

The 'maybe,' was tempting, but Shadow had a feeling that Knuckles didn't believe he had the ability to make a joke. "Considering that Sonic didn't say it, it would be illogical to take it out on him, but I would like to understand it better," he explained.

Knuckles sighed. "Rouge should have kept her mouth shut." He snarled. "It goes back to when I first met those two. Egg-man at first lied to me, told me that Sonic wanted to steal the Master Emerald. Once I figured out that it was Egg Man who wanted to steal the Master Emerald Sonic, Tails, and I worked together to save the Island. I thought I wouldn't see them again, but once a week Sonic would stop by for no reason. He started dropping off things like books and blankets. I don't know how he knew what I always needed, but he did. He'd never give me a straight answer when I asked him why, and I was starting to get suspicious that he was after the Master Emerald after all, but when I tried to get some information out of Tails he just laughed, and said Sonic decided that I spent way too much time alone up here and I needed a friend. He told me to consider myself adopted."

Shadow gave Knuckles an odd look, so the echidna continued. "He told me he'd seen Sonic do it before. Even if your rude, and tell Sonic to leave you alone he'll just back off a bit, but he won't stop checking on you, and letting you know he's there if you need help. If Sonic decides that you need a friend, he'll be your friend, and it's really hard to shake him once he's made up his mind."

Shadow thought about this. Did he want to shake Sonic loose? "So what do I do about it?" He asked.

Knuckles shrugged. "Hey he still comes to visit me," the echidna admitted. "I just got used to it. I don't think you're going to get rid of him anymore than I did. Consider yourself adopted."

Shadow sighed, and turned to leave when Knuckles said, "Now can I ask you something?"

Shadow had a bad feeling he knew what Knuckles wanted. "It wasn't intentional." He said, bracing himself for Knuckles' reaction."

"You did fight with him," Knuckles said, sounding angry.

"It wasn't a fight," Shadow answered.

Knuckles didn't answer for a few minutes. Shadow wondered if he shouldn't leave when Knuckles said, "Okay then explain what happened."

Shadow didn't want to talk about the nightmare, but Sonic and Rouge were trying to keep the others from interfering with him. He wondered what Knuckles would think about the nightmare. With a heavy sigh he said. "I dreamed that I could see myself falling under Black Doom's control until I became nothing more than his slave. When I woke up I saw something that looked like me in the darkness, so I attacked. It wasn't until he turned on his flashlight that I saw it was Sonic and not me."

Knuckles looked at Shadow a little perplexed. "You attacked Sonic thinking he was you?"

Feeling like he just made a mistake confiding in Knuckles he said sharply. "I just woke up from a dream. I wasn't thinking."

Knuckles kept silent for a few minutes looking thoughtful. "So that's why he wouldn't tell us how he got hurt," he finally said. He looked at Shadow directly. "Is that why Rouge built a tree house near your place?"

Shadow shrugged. "She was there when I woke up," Shadow admitted, "I suppose she wants to keep an eye on me."

"I hate to say it, but it's probably a good idea," Knuckles advised. "You might want to consider a roommate until you work those dreams out of your system."

Shadow raised an eyebrow and gave the echidna a dark look. "If you are suggesting that I room with Sonic I'd say that all that Chaos energy is deteriorating your brain."

Knuckles laughed. "I wouldn't suggest Sonic if you're going to mistake him for your evil self in the dark," he said. After a moment of thought he said. "Espio wouldn't mind spending a few days with you though. He'd respect your space, he's easy to get along with, and if your freak in the middle of the night he's one of the few people I think could at least hold you back for a few minutes."

Shadow thought about it. Knuckles sounded too much like he had been seriously considering this. He wondered what Knuckles would get out of it. "I'll consider it," he said deciding that answer would appease the guardian. "Thank you for helping me to understand." With that Shadow jumped down off of the island back to the lower parts of the planet.

Knuckles sighed watching Shadow leave. "That is one seriously messed up hedgehog," he concluded. The answer he gave when Knuckles suggested he spend some time with Espio sounded a little too neutral. He didn't say yes or no, only that he'd think about it. _Hmmm definitely a cop out. Well he might not want Espio around, but I think I'll get a message to the Chaotix about what's going on. Espio helped with Sonic, and I have a feeling he'd like a real challenge. _

Coming Soon

Chapter 6

The Gift

Shadow looked at Sonic carefully. Sonic acted like the gift was more of an afterthought than something of importance, but Shadow needed this information badly, and he knew that Sonic knew that. "How did you get this information from the Doctor?" He asked.

Sonic still looked disinterested grinning that infuriating all-knowing grin of his. "Oh I ran into him the other day we started talking, and he thought you might want the info."

Shadow eyed Sonic up and down. He wondered what Doctor Egg-man would say if Shadow asked him about the encounter. "Do you want to stay with that story, or are you trying to think of a better one?" Shadow asked him.


	6. Chapter 6

In Cosmo's Shadow

By Kellie Fay

Disclaimer: Sonic, Shadow, Tails, Cosmo, and the others all belong to SEGA, Team Sonic, 4 Kids and other people not me.

Why isn't anyone giving me any Reviews? I know you're reading it! Please tell me what you think!

Chapter 6

The Gift

Later that afternoon Sonic came by with some dinner. "Cream's mom loves to feed people," Sonic said, while spreading out the meal. "If you ever want something home cooked she always has chores that need to be done. A few hours running errands and chopping wood for her, and she'll feed you for like a week."

Shadow took a bite out of the savory casserole, and looked up at Sonic feeling comfortable enough with him to tease. That should just about cover you for a day then," he said with a smirk.

Sonic, always willing to laugh at himself shrugged, and smiled. "No then she makes more," he informed Shadow. "Oh, and here, I almost forgot, this is for you." Sonic took out a blue package, and tossed it over to Shadow. Curious Shadow opened the package, and found a black, leather bound, notebook, and a computer data chip.

"What is this?" Shadow asked, even though he suspected he knew what this was and how Sonic got it.

"Oh When Egg-man woke you up on Prison Island he helped himself to a lot of data in their computers, and his grandfather's personal diary. I figured you might want the information."

Shadow looked at Sonic carefully. Sonic acted like the gift was more of an afterthought rather than something of importance, but Shadow needed this information badly, and he knew that Sonic knew that. "How did you get this information from the Doctor?" He asked.

Sonic still looked disinterested grinning that infuriating all-knowing grin of his. "Oh I ran into him the other day we got talking, and he thought you might want the info."

Shadow eyed Sonic up and down. He wondered what Doctor Egg-man would say if Shadow asked him about the encounter. "Do you want to stay with that story, or are you trying to think of a better one?" Shadow asked him.

Sonic feigned indignation. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Shadow now smirked he knew he had Sonic. "The Doctor doesn't give information up readily. He either had an ulterior motive, or you stole it from him."

"Hey I didn't steal nothing. He put it in my hands, for what it's worth" Sonic insisted.

Shadow still felt suspicious of the gift. Just before bed Shadow sensed someone spying on him. He chaos controlled out of the house, and up to Rouge's tree house. Shadow knew she'd gone flying out to visit Knuckles. From his vantage point above he saw something small moving in the shadows in the forest. Another chaos fueled teleport landed him right on top of Bokun.

AHHH GET OFF OF ME SHADOW! The little machine complained.

Shadow released Bokun but kept one hand on the creature so it could not escape. "What are you doing here pest?" Shadow asked.

"Doctor Egg-man said it wouldn't count if I came here, and just watched you! He said so!" The little robot shouted.

"What are you talking about?" Shadow asked confused. "What doesn't count?"

"There was a landslide by our base a few days ago and Sonic dug us out. Then he and Dr Eggman went, and talked for a long time and they wouldn't let us robots listen in at all. Then he sent me to get that old book for Sonic. The one he just gave you. Just before Sonic left he told Doctor Egg-man that he meant it when he said that they'd have problems if he started messing with you, and Doctor Egg-man said that he would never try to control you anyway cuz you have a bad temper, and if you ever woke up enough to figure out he was using you you'd level the whole planet just to get him. Sonic laughed, and said you'd have help, then he said thanks for the data chip and book and left."

_So that's how Sonic got the data chip, and book!_ Shadow wondered. Again he bristled at Sonic's attitude. How dare that infuriating pin cushion dictate who he could and could not talk to!

_Then again…_ Shadow looked at Bokun, "Did Sonic say I had to stay away from the Doctor, or that he had to stay away from me?"

Bokun shrugged. "I don't know. He wouldn't let us listen. All I know is that when they came out Sonic said that he didn't want Doctor Egg-man messing with you."

_So me paying the Doctor a visit may be perfectly okay. That makes more sense._ Sonic never tried to dictate terms to Shadow, but he has been acting as a buffer between him and the others. Sonic dictating terms to Doctor Egg-man reminded Shadow of how Sonic treated him with the others.

_Maybe I will pay the Doctor a visit. I want to know exactly what Sonic said to him._

He looked down at the little robot in his hands, and just dropped him without ceremony to the ground.

"If anyone asks," Shadow said sternly, "I didn't notice you."

Bokun, still shocked at being set free backed away rising into the air while he did so. "Sure you got it, bye now!" The little machine flew away. Shadow noted his direction, and then began moving towards Doctor Egg-man's new base.

Coming Soon Chapter 7

A Visit To The Doctor:

"Egg-man turned around again and gave Shadow a long calculating look before turning back to his work. "Oh, that's good to hear. Anyway, I gave Sonic only a copy of the data, and I transcribed the hand written notes a long time ago. Sonic thought it would be good for you, but if you want my advice I'd say pack that disk and those books away and never look at them. You won't like what you see."


	7. Chapter 7

In Cosmo's Shadow

By Kellie Fay

Disclaimer: Sonic, Shadow, Tails, Cosmo, and the others all belong to SEGA, Team Sonic, 4 Kids and other people not me.

Come on people! 207 hits and not one review? The little button is right there on the bottom! Please please please review?

Chapter 7

A Visit To The Doctor

The next day after careful observations Shadow managed to locate the mountain where Egg-man placed his latest fortress. For no reason that anyone knew about, Egg-Man had been on his best behavior lately. He and his robots kept pretty much to themselves.

He knew better than to take his Chaos Emerald anywhere near the doctor. Besides he found it easier to simply slip in through the air vent. He came up behind The Doctor while he performed some delicate procedure under a hood of some new robot under construction. The others might not think he had a sense of humor, but when Maria lived she inspired a healthy sense of mischief in Shadow. He couldn't resist but clear his throat and say politely, "Good Afternoon Doctor."

Sure enough he startled Doctor Egg-Man enough that he yelped, stood up surprised, and bumped his head on the hood of his contraption releasing a second yelp. He grabbed his wounded head in both hands, and turned around to glare at the hedgehog. Shadow managed to keep a straight face, but a humorous warmth spread through his body, and shown through his eyes.

"Don't you believe in knocking?" Egg-man snapped at him.

Shadow even surprised himself by keeping his voice neutral. "I didn't see a door,"

Egg-man glared again, but he didn't scold him again. "So what brings you here Shadow?" He asked instead.

Shadow knew he needed to be careful. The Doctor could be very tricky, and he often managed to manipulate people into doing things that he wanted. "Why did you give Sonic the data you stole from GUN?"

Egg-Man gave Shadow a calculating look. "So he did give you the information. I was wondering if he would keep it for himself."

"So why did you do it?" Shadow asked.

Egg-man began fiddling under the hood of his machine again. "He seemed very worried about you. He said you were still having memory problems, and nightmares. "

"I remember most things," Shadow said, defensively. Not entirely true. Shadow could now easily remember everything before the raid on the ARK, and everything after he awakened in space, but everyone told him that there had been a time when Eggman woke him up on Prison Island, and a rescue he performed keeping the ARK from crashing into the Earth. He couldn't seem to remember anything about it, and when he did, the memories were clouded and fuzzy.

"Egg-man turned around again, and gave Shadow a long calculating look before turning back to his work. "Oh, that's good to hear. Anyway I gave Sonic only a copy of the data, and I transcribed the hand written notes a long time ago. Sonic thought it would be good for you, but if you want my advice I'd say pack that disk and those books away, and never look at them. You won't like what you see."

_Not exactly the answer I'm looking for, but an answer never the less_, Shadow thought. "Thank you Doctor," he said, and slipped off back to his own home.

_Night and day I've planned, so long after I am gone, my revenge will be complete. My enemies think they have defeated me. But Shadow will carry out my orders without question. Now it sleeps, but one day it will be reawaked! Shadow, will bring total destruction!_

_Shadow will carry out my orders without question._

Hours later Shadow leaned back in his chair and rubbed his eyes tiredly. While he did understand the basics of what Professor Gerrald wrote about in his notes, reading exactly what the professor actually did began to make his insides feel queasy. He didn't even have the strength to ignore the knock on his door.

"Come in," he said, not thinking.

"Hey Shadow, I just figured I'd see if you needed anything before-"Rouge stopped in mid-sentence looking Shadow up and down. "Shadow, what's wrong?"

"Nothing really," Shadow insisted pulling himself together. "I was looking over the little gift Sonic got me. It seems he talked The Doctor into giving me the data he stole from Prison Island. It includes Professor Gerald's notes, on what happened to me after I was locked in suspension."

Rouge frowned. "How long have you be at it?" She asked.

Shadow sighed. "Long enough to get a headache," he said. He decided not to mention his queasy stomach.

Rouge reached over, and turned the computer off. "Long enough to need a break," she insisted. "It's almost one in the morning." She reached behind Shadow and began massaging his neck.

Shadow's first reaction told him to tell Rouge to get off of him, but the words died in his throat as baser instincts told him how good the gentle rubbing felt. His eyes dropped closed instantly, and he sat there his mind falling quiet reveling in the gentle touches behind him. A slight moan escaped his throat and he heard Rouge chuckle.

"I told you you'd enjoy this." She breathed in his ear. She moved from his neck to his back avoiding his quills. Some rational part of Shadow's mind mused that Rouge had massaged hedgehogs before. She not only knew how to keep from scratching herself on his quills, but she massaged the muscles around each quill allowing the quill to drop from their alert position to a relaxed flat against his back. Shadow felt his headache and most of his conscious thoughts fade away paying only attention to Rouge's gentle ministrations.

"Gonna fall asleep if you keep doing that," he muttered. Rouge laughed, and managed to get him out of his chair, and guided him to the bed in the room without any protests. Once he settled in she continued the massage, and he let her. Soon Rouge started humming something, but Shadow couldn't recognize the tune, he really didn't care at this point either. He curled up a little more and completely gave in to her care dropping off to sleep without a sound."

Rouge knew that she could get any male of any species, to relax and fall asleep. A few during her massages had promised to be her willing servant. Even when surrounded by humans she found her abilities in acupressure, and massage useful. She even taught Topaz a few tricks to try on her male counterparts. Once Shadow's little groans became snores, Rouge continued for a few more minutes to make sure he slept deeply enough to not notice her departure. She then tucked the ebony and crimson hedgehog in. Regretfully she ran her fingers over the backs of his ears. She knew that Sonic and Amy both had a small bundle of nerves behind their ears that when rubbed made a hedgehog very happy and relaxed, but Shadow didn't appear to have that feature. Still she had other tricks to relax Shadow. She went to the computer Tails built for Shadow, and took the data chip out, placed it in its holder, and put it in the desk. _So Sonic did give Shadow the data chip he got from Egg-man. I wonder if his personality is going to shift back to the way it was._ She hoped not. The Shadow that she knew on The Ark acted much meaner than the one that woke in space. She didn't know if Sonic and the others knew it, but the Shadow they were dealing with know was far more mellow than the one she first encountered.

She walked out onto the front porch, and reveled for a moment in the breeze. She decided to stay up past sunrise, and have a long talk with Shadow after he had a good night sleep. She felt she needed to know what he was thinking.

The breeze intensified for a moment, and then to Rouge's surprise a soft feminine voice came into her mind. _Please Rouge, stay close while Shadow sleeps. Something has unsettled him badly. _

Rouge blinked and turned to the east side of Shadow's home. There outside the window to Shadow's secrete room were three small Star Trees that grew from the seeds Shadow discarded his first day in his home. Sonic told them wherever these trees grew Cosmo could sense the area. She seemed to know what everyone within her sphere thought and experienced, and she could speak either with feelings or thoughts, though it caused her some difficulty. Most of the time her little comments would only be heard by Cream, Charmy, Sonic, and Espio, but occasionally if she felt it necessary she would warn them about a problem.

"Is that all you're going to give me kid, or am I going to get some details?" Rouge asked the small trees before her. Still young, the proto-trees didn't even come up to her knees yet Cosmo could clearly hear her through them, and transmit her own thoughts and feelings.

This time Cosmo stuck to emotions. She sensed an unhappiness and torment within Shadow that he refused to acknowledge or express. Cosmo felt he might have more bad nightmares if left alone.

Rouge nodded, and let her thoughts do the talking for her. _Okay kid I got this. Let me go grab something to eat, and I'll play Shadow's nursemaid tonight. _

Coming Soon Chapter 8

Not Just a Nightmare:

"Why WHY? Why did he do that to me? Why did he make me do that?" Shadow sobbed over and over. Rouge realizing the complete change in attitude tentatively approached Shadow, and sat down on the floor to gather him up into her lap. Once she had him she began to rock, and talk softly to him while he cried out his frustration."

"Shhh shhh it's okay Shadow. Everything is all right. It's just a bad dream." Rouge crooned over and over. Eventually Shadow quieted down in her arms going back into a true sleep. With a grateful sigh, Rouge looked up at the ruined door and saw a very ticked off blue hedgehog looking right back at her.


	8. Chapter 8

In Cosmo's Shadow

By Kellie Fay

Disclaimer: Sonic, Shadow, Tails, Cosmo, and the others all belong to SEGA, Team Sonic, 4 Kids and other people not me.

Yay! I got one review! (waves to Kiari-Ninja) See it's not hard! Please review!

Chapter 8

Not just a Nightmare

Three hours later Rouge sat in Shadow's room quietly reading a book. She did see signs earlier that some dreams disturbed Shadow's rest, but he simply tossed a bit murmured something unintelligible and settled back down.

Suddenly without warning Shadow's eyes snapped open. Without looking or even acknowledging Rouge's presence in his home Shadow advanced on the computer with a fearsome scowl on his face that reminded Rouge of those few days on the ARK.

"Shadow? What's the matter?" Rouge asked, but Shadow walked past Rouge and angrily faced the computer and desk.

"Shadow?" Rouge called again, thinking to herself that she owed the little tree out in Tail's yard a fresh bag of fertilizer or something. Behind both of them the red Chaos Emerald began to glow indicating Shadow channeling the power.

"CHAOS SPEAR!" Shadow shouted, out completely destroying the computer and desk.

"Shadow!" Rouge called a third time, but clearly Shadow could not hear her. _He's sleepwalking!_ Rouge realized, and then noted that this marked the first time Shadow became violent while sleepwalking.

Shadow moved over to where the computer used to stand, and proceeded to pound every bit of it into powder. _I can't help but wonder if this doesn't have to do with the data chip that Sonic gave Shadow yesterday._ When she saw the chip peeking out of the ruined desk she decided she'd better protect it. Quickly she leaped up into the air, and swooped down over the desk snatching up the little disk. Thankfully out of habit she followed proper GUN protocol, and placed the chip back in its container before storing it. It survived the destruction of the desk. With the disk in her hand she suddenly became visible to Shadow, but not in a good way. He flung another Chaos spear in her direction, only having it miss her because she still flew. She knew that on the ground she would be no match for Shadow's speed.

"Shadow, wake up, you're dreaming!" Rouge tried to call to him, but he didn't seem to register her as anything, but something he had to fight to get the chip. She managed to duck and avoid his blasts, but she wasn't going to be able to keep it up forever. Shadow managed to get her on the tip of her left wing causing her to go into a tumbling crash, into the door of Shadow's special room. A wide awake and aware Shadow wouldn't talk about the room at all. Considering that Shadow once sleepwalked into this room, and had a conversation with thin air there, Rouge didn't know how he would react to her being in this room. She tucked the data chip securely into her breast plate, and ducked under a table. Hopefully without the disk or her in his range of vision when he entered the room, his sleeping mind would lose interest.

Shadow walked into the room, that terrifying scowl still on his face. He seemed determined to hunt down anyone and anything between him and that chip. He took two steps into the room where his eyes fell onto the drinking glass with the three little star flowers inside. Suddenly Shadow scanned the whole room not seeing Rouge, but taking in certain elements of the room, like a string necklace of fresh water snail shells, several Flicky feathers arranged on the book cases, and a charcoal drawing of a chaos emerald attached to the wall nearest the bed. Suddenly the scowl was replaced by a look of utter despair, and Rouge watched the Ultimate Life Form collapse onto the floor howling with grief and anger.

"Why WHY? Why did he do that to me? Why did he make me do that?" Shadow sobbed over and over. Rouge realizing the complete change in attitude tentatively approached Shadow, and sat down on the floor to gather him up into her lap. Once she had him she began to rock, and talk softly to him while he cried out his frustration."

"Shhh shhh it's okay Shadow. Everything is all right. It's just a bad dream." Rouge crooned over and over. Eventually Shadow quieted down in her arms going back into a true sleep. With a grateful sigh, Rouge looked up at the ruined door, and saw a very ticked off blue hedgehog looking right back at her.

Shadow opened his eyes, and winced. He was in Maria's room again. Did Rouge guide him in here during the backrub? He had been sure he fell asleep in his own bed. Sitting up Shadow noticed several things wrong with the room. Several of the items he left here were out of place. It looked like a miniature whirlwind came in and blew everything around. He got out of the bed then saw the door hanging halfway off its hinges.

_What the hell happened last night? Did I do that, or did I sleep through some kind of attack?"_

Going out into his part of the house only made him feel worse. Where his computer once rested on a desk, only rubble remained. A few other areas had significant singe marks that could only have been made by his own Chaos Spear. At his own table Sonic the Hedgehog sat leaning on the two back legs of the chair, his feet crossed on top of his table. Shadow noticed that Sonic did not sport his trademark grin, his eyes were closed and his face serious.

"Morning Shadow," Sonic said. His tone was light, but very tired. Shadow almost wished Sonic would yell at him for whatever happened, but he knew Sonic wouldn't blame him for what he did while sleeping.

"Sonic, what happened here?" He asked. The unwanted question came out anyway. "Did I do all this?"

"'Frade so pal," Sonic said opening his eyes. "Rouge said you got up, and started to trash the computer and anything to do with that data chip I gave you."

Suddenly a panic settled in Shadow's throat. "Sonic, where is Rouge?"

"She's fine," Sonic said evenly. "I sent her up to her tree house to get some sleep. I got here just after the fireworks finished. Now he looked at Shadow directly. "You don't remember any of it, do you?"

Shadow couldn't do anything, but shake his head no.

"I'm sorry,"

That Shadow didn't expect. He looked directly at Sonic, and asked, "Why are you sorry? You didn't do any of this!" _You're not the one losing his mind._

Sonic didn't look at Shadow, but he answered, "Maybe if I didn't give you the chip it wouldn't have happened. I thought I was helping."

"You didn't tell me to look at the chip," Shadow reminded him. "That was my choice." He decided not to mention that Egg-man told him looking at the chip might be a bad idea.

Sonic sighed. "I want to help you work this out Shadow, but I can't help you if you don't tell me when you're having problems. You should have told me you go sleepwalking sometimes."

Shadow frowned. "I don't want your help," he insisted, "and I don't want Rouge's help either."

Sonic deliberately looked back at the debris that used to be his computer desk. "You may not want our help Shads, but you know you need it."

"Well I don't need it now," Shadow growled. "I'm awake and I'm fine. Go do whatever it is that you do. I can take care of things myself. "

Sonic nodded, and rose from the table. "If you need anything, Shadow, just let me know." with that Sonic went to the door, and vanished.

Shadow surveyed the mess. The first thing he needed to do was repair the door to Maria's room.

The last thing he needed was a visit from Amy Rose.

Coming Soon

Chapter 9

Visitors

Shadow winced. He knew they both were right, and after attacking Rouge last night he was desperate to rationalize his actions. "You looked in there after you put me back to bed," he accused Rouge.

Rouge blushed, something Shadow never saw before. "Just a quick glance, but yeah, Shadow, who do you expect to use that room?"

The idea almost made him angry. "That room isn't for anybody but-" He couldn't' get the words out. Not that word. It wouldn't make sense to them. "I need it," he changed his words. When Sonic and Rouge looked at him puzzled he added, "Just like you need to run, and she needs jewelry. I need it." Sonic was still giving Shadow this odd look, so he decided to say, "And don't try to read my mind!"


	9. Chapter 9

In Cosmo's Shadow

By Kellie Fay

Disclaimer: Sonic, Shadow, Tails, Cosmo, and the others all belong to SEGA, Team Sonic, 4 Kids and other people not me.

Please Review! I think nobody likes this story. :(

Chapter 9

Visitors

He knew his visitor long before she arrived. Her footsteps were high pitched, and quick. Rouge, if she walked at all had slower footsteps. The Fox moved almost silently through the forest, and in contrast Knuckles, sounded like one of those giant horses from the human world that Maria loved so when he wanted to announce his presence. When Knuckles wanted to sneak up on you however, he could equal Tails in stealth. Cream skipped wherever she went, and you never heard Sonic's footsteps. You only heard the high pitched whine that followed in his wake when he ran.

He knew she stopped just behind him, so before she could make her demands he asked, "What do you want?"

Amy sputtered for a second before settling down. "How did you know I was here?" She asked.

"You sound like Knuckles tromping around in the forest like that. Even the fox cub is quieter than you in the forest."

"What did you do to my Sonic?" Amy demanded.

Now Shadow looked over his shoulder to glance at her. "Is Sonic aware that you consider him to be your property?" _No wonder he runs at the least indication she's around. _

"Never mind that," she said with her arms crossed in front of her. "What did you say to Sonic? He's been using that think talk to argue with Rouge for most of the afternoon."

Now she said something that captured his interest. He stopped adding the hinge to the door. "Think talk?" He asked.

Amy sighed. "It's something Espio taught Sonic a while ago. Only the three of them do it well. They can think at each other and hear it. I only hear them a little. Being around them when they're arguing about you like that gives me a headache."

Shadow wondered why they would be arguing about his sleep walking when suddenly he realized a reason Sonic would be angry. He couldn't help but chuckle.

"What's so funny?" Amy asked.

"Let's just say Rouge can't blackmail me anymore."

Amy frowned looking at him. "Rouge was blackmailing you? Shadow what happened here? Last night Sonic blasted past the village, today he's arguing with Rouge in their heads, and now I see you repairing stuff from your house." Without asking Amy went, and peeked into the window of Maria's room.

"Leave that alone!" He said pushing away from the window. Amy fell in a heap on the ground.

"Hey!" She said indignantly. She might have said more, but then she stared at three little bushes under the window, and closed her mouth. She then got off the ground dusted herself off, and said, "Fine be that way! I'm going home."

Shadow shrugged and went back to his work. He halfway expected the visit he got that evening from both Sonic and Rouge. He thought Sonic would be angry with him for shoving Amy. To his surprise Amy didn't come up in the conversation until much later. Sonic brought dinner from Cream's mom again, and Rouge started to explain what happened.

"…The moment you realized you were in the room you…you just collapsed and started crying. You forgot about me and the chip, so I calmed you down got you back asleep and tucked you in right there." Rouge said. Shadow nodded. He couldn't say anything he didn't remember any of it.

Sonic then looked at Shadow directly. "Rouge and I were going over it for the better part of today trying to figure out why you switched gears going into that room. Shadow, I know you don't like to talk about it, but maybe you could tell us something about that room that would help us understand."

Shadow winced. He knew they both were right, and after attacking Rouge last night he was desperate to rationalize his actions. "You looked in there after you put me back to bed," He accused Rouge.

Rouge blushed something Shadow never saw before. "Just a quick glance, but yeah, Shadow, who do you expect to use that room?"

The idea almost made him angry. "That room isn't for anybody but-" He couldn't' get the words out. Not that word. It wouldn't make sense to them. "I need it," he changed his words. When Sonic and Rouge looked at him puzzled he added. "Just like you need to run, and she needs jewelry. I need it." Sonic was still giving Shadow this odd look, so he decided to say, "and don't try to read my mind!"

Sonic looked annoyed, but Shadow had the feeling that it wasn't directed at him. Instead the blue hedgehog went back to the original topic. "Shadow, all we're trying to figure out is why you stopped dead when you entered that room, and started crying.

"It would be better to read the data chip and figure out what might have set me off in the first place," Shadow countered.

"I intend to," Sonic said firmly. "Last night while you were sleeping off your midnight romp, I woke up Tails, and had him copy the data chip. If you want to look at the original again I'll let you, but I think you should let us hide it at night so you don't go after it again."

Shadow nodded, he couldn't argue. If he couldn't look at the data chip without getting violent, someone had to find out what was on there. He thought they left after that, but going out onto his porch that evening he found Sonic sitting out there, much like he found him at his table this morning. Leaning back in his chair balanced on the back two legs, resting his legs on the rail of the porch, eyes closed.

Shadow glared down at the serene hedgehog. _You are so not sleeping here Sonic even if I have to Chaos Control you halfway across the planet._

To Shadow's surprise Sonic blinked, and looked up at Shadow before rubbing his eyes. "Didn't mean to doze off," Sonic said sounding very sleepy. "Had to wake up very early this morning because someone is so determined to take care of things himself he didn't bother to tell me he sleepwalks."

Shadow refused to back off, "And I told you not to read my mind."

Sonic looked at Shadow still bleary eyed, and a little confused. "You didn't say anything?" Surprised Shadow shook his head no. Sonic gave a little push righting the chair he sat in, and gave his head a little shake. "Man I must have really been out of it to not tell the difference." He looked up and gave a slightly amused glance at Shadow. "You might want to talk to Espio about controlling that. You project like a rock concert. I usually don't hear what people are thinking unless they're projecting for me to hear them."

"You mean you weren't trying to read my thoughts?" Shadow asked.

Sonic shook his head no. "Shadow I was practically asleep. It was the first time I got to relax all day, and like I said I was up early. That was all you buddy, and if you project like that I think you'd better get some lessons from Espio on keeping your thoughts to yourself. "

"I'll consider it," Shadow said. "Now if you're that tired you might want to go home."

Sonic gave Shadow a look up and down. "All right, and I won't fuss about the sleepwalking too much, seeing how it was probably my fault anyway on one condition."

"What?"

"You leave Rouge's tree house where it is," Sonic said nodding up towards the structure shading his front porch. "Call me crazy, but I want someone looking after you if you have problems at night. I tell you I was pretty miffed at her for not telling me about the sleepwalking. When I told Egg-man that you had a few nightmares he asked me if you were still sleepwalking. After last night I really laid into Rouge for keeping it from me."

"Is that what you two were arguing about with your thoughts?" Shadow asked. When Sonic looked at him puzzled he added. "Amy came by and told me you were arguing with your thoughts and it gave her a headache, and she was mad at me for upsetting you."

"So that's where you got the mind reading idea from," Sonic said suddenly understanding. I knew she came out here, cuz she came back all mad that you were rude to her and shoved her to the ground."

Shadow winced at that but then realized that Sonic's tone never changed. "You're not angry about that?" He asked.

"You were awake, so you knew what you were doing. Amy wasn't bruised, had any broken bones, and she wasn't even crying. The only thing that got hurt was her pride. When she finally got done complaining she told us what she did to set you off. Rouge and I went over the very sensible reasons of why we don't ask Shadow about his extra room, and that she got off easy with landing in the dirt." Sonic then gave Shadow a grin, and said, "Mind you if you had hurt Amy I would have been miffed, but If she's gonna come out here and annoy you, she has no one else to blame but herself." Then Sonic looked away from him and said, "It would be of course easier to explain it to her if we understood why you keep that room private."

Shadow wasn't sure if he should be resentful that Sonic brought it up yet again, or try to accommodate him. He didn't know how he should be reacting. All he knew is that he wanted that little room, and he didn't know how to express it if they still didn't understand it. Shadow decided to ignore the question when Sonic snapped around, and gave him the oddest of looks. It only took Shadow a second to realize the problem. "I'm projecting again?"

"Yep," Sonic said rubbing his forehead. "I'm probably not protecting myself too well right now either. I'm gone. Just let me know if you need anything"

Shadow didn't know why he looked up at that moment, but he saw Rouge in the tree watching Sonic run off. "I suppose you hear my thoughts without trying also?" He asked.

Rouge jumped down and shook her head. "I'm not as good as he is," She admitted. "It's connected to my radar. Sonic started doing it a few months before we heard you'd survived. He's actually quite good at it."

_Wonderful he can read my thoughts if I'm not careful._ Shadow frowned. "I suppose you think I should learn how to control this too," he complained.

Rouge ran one fingernail across his shoulders making him flinch. "I don't know. I kind of like the idea of knowing what's on your mind."

"Right," Shadow said. Then not caring if Rouge could hear him or not he thought. _All right, I'm talking to Espio first thing in the morning._

Coming Soon Chapter 10 Espio

Shadow thought he understood what Espio was asking for at that point, but knew that the odd thought that woke Sonic wouldn't be unsettling enough. Instead Shadow began to think about how out of control he felt of both his dreams and of his sleepwalking. Within a few seconds Espio's head snapped up and he gave Shadow the oddest of looks.

"I suppose you heard that," Shadow said with a sigh.

"I believe Sonic's analogy of a rock concert understated the problem," Espio said simply.


	10. Chapter 10

In Cosmo's Shadow

By Kellie Fay

Disclaimer: Sonic, Shadow, Tails, Cosmo, and the others all belong to SEGA, Team Sonic, 4 Kids and other people not me.

*waves again to Kiari-Ninja* Warning I tend to tourture my favorite characters and Shadow is in for interesting times. :)

Please Please Please Review!

Chapter 10

Espio

Early that morning Shadow ran to office of the Chaotix Detective Agency. Before he got within ten yards of the office their littlest member came to greet him.

"Hey Shadow! Where ya been!"

Shadow glared at the little bee, and continued into the office. There he saw Vector listening to music. The chameleon couldn't be seen anywhere.

Vector looked up and smiled broadly. Well hey Shadow! What brings you around?

Shadow never felt the need for small talk. "Where is Espio. I need to talk to him."

Vector frowned at Shadow's apparent rudeness, but Espio suddenly appeared sitting up on a cabinet. "I am here, what is on your mind Shadow?"

Shadow gave Espio a significant look, and nodded towards the door. Espio nodded and the two left the office.

For the first few moments the two walked in silence. Once Shadow felt that no one could over hear them, he began. "I've heard that you taught Sonic how to read the thoughts of others."

Espio gave Shadow a look and raised an eyebrow ridge. "Sonic is extremely sensitive to any energies, including energies produced by living things. I merely showed him how to recognize and interpret those energies as he does with every other form of energy he utilizes."

This was news to Shadow. "I don't understand," he said, "Sonic does what?"

Espio smiled. "The reason that Sonic can run so fast is that he absorbs energy from other sources. If I understand your history correctly, you produce chaos energy, but you can also use the chaos energy from the emeralds."

"Yes," Shadow said cautiously.

"As far as I understand it, Sonic absorbs energy from everything, chaos, power rings, sunlight, even our thoughts and emotions. Just before you arrived he began to develop the abilities to separate and identify these energies. I just helped him refine his abilities so they would not be distracting to him."

Shadow filed the information for later study. "So what does it mean to you if Sonic said I project like a rock concert?"

Espio smiled. "If you are putting emotions into your thoughts, there might be enough of both life and chaos energy within you for him to sense your thoughts, if he wasn't putting up barriers against thoughts."

Shadow considered. "He told me he was tired. In fact he was half asleep and responded to my thoughts even though I had said nothing."

Espio blinked surprised. "For him to have heard you without trying, your projections must be very strong indeed." The chameleon looked around. "Would you consider an experiment?" Espio sat down on the grass, and indicated that Shadow should do the same.

Curious, Shadow did so. Espio looked Shadow up and down and then said, "Close your eyes, and try to think of something that makes you feel uncomfortable."

"Uncomfortable?" Shadow echoed.

"If we are to ascertain your ability we need to emulate the conditions that caused you to project your thoughts. Perhaps you should think of the item Sonic seemed to hear while he was sleeping."

Shadow thought he understood what Espio was asking for at that point, but knew that the odd thought that woke Sonic wouldn't be unsettling enough. Instead Shadow began to think about how out of control he felt of both his dreams and of his sleepwalking. Within a few seconds Espio's head snapped up and he gave Shadow the oddest of looks.

"I suppose you heard that," Shadow said with a sigh.

"I believe Sonic's analogy of a rock concert understated the problem," Espio said simply. "Now try to think of the same thing, but try to separate your emotions from the thoughts."

Shadow thought he had been doing that, so now he tried something else. Instead of trying to suppress the emotions he let it flow he allowed himself to feel frustrated. His face turned down into a deep frown. He thought about what Espio said that thoughts were energy. He drove those thoughts into the ground, hoping that if he directed the emotions away from Espio they wouldn't be heard.

"Better," Espio said, "but I have an alternative idea. You dislike showing emotion try to imagine a color that will make your thoughts more opaque. It's best if you use a color that feels cool to you."

Shadow couldn't help himself, even though it was Sonic's color it was also Maria's favorite color, and the color of her beautiful eyes that still haunted him. He filled his mind with the blue of a tropical sea. Oddly enough it calmed him. Espio nodded, a slight smile showed his approval.

"Good," he said. "I would suggest keeping that image in your mind in groups. You never know who is sensitive to such energies. You will eventually get used to doing so."

Shadow nodded. At least he had this problem solved. Now he had to deal with the fact that Rouge was staying his neighbor.

Coming Soon Chapter 11

"_Let's get this over with shall we?" Shadow reached out and grabbed the girl by the throat, and squeezed. He felt her wind pipe collapse under his grasp, and because he didn't want her to suffer he made sure to crush her spine as well. He let go and watched her crumble to a heap on the floor. Finished he turned away from her to leave, but stopped when he hears a voice. _

"_Why Shadow? Why?" She shouldn't be able to breath much less speak she should be dead already. Shadow looked down, but the hair is gold instead of green. The flowered dress is sky blue, and the face that looks up at him is human. _

_It is Maria._


	11. Chapter 11

In Cosmo's Shadow

By Kellie Fay

Disclaimer: Sonic, Shadow, Tails, Cosmo, and the others all belong to SEGA, Team Sonic, 4 Kids and other people not me.

*Waves to Kiari Ninja* Thanks for the review: And yeah I have more tourtures for Shadow planned. :)

To others: Please Review! Everyone needs feedback!

Chapter 11

**The Darkness Returns**

Actually having Rouge for a neighbor didn't turn out too badly. She kept to herself, and only seemed to be around in the early evening. Shadow found out later that being a bat, Rouge preferred sleeping most of the morning anyway, and only got up in the late afternoon. Only in the evenings did Rouge press her attention on Shadow. He complained of course, but after the last incident, he wondered if he didn't need someone just to keep an eye out for him while he slept. The incident with the data chip, and the extra bedroom still bothered him. He knew that everyone wondered why he built a second room into his house, but he didn't want to talk about it. He needed it, he didn't even know why. He didn't have the words to explain why, but he wanted to fill it with everything he wished he could have given Maria. Sometimes he would just sit there, close his eyes, and try to imagine Maria there talking about what he brought her, but he couldn't help but wonder why when he went into that room pursuing Rouge that he broke into tears.

Once a week Shadow received three more of the star flowers each one in a little makeshift container with water. He decided that if Cream chose to give him the flowers he had nothing to do with it so he did not say anything about it. He didn't let anyone go in that room anyway.

The third week of deliveries also brought a new addition, a child's doll. By now Shadow had directly caught Cream and Cheese making their early morning deliveries, but again chose not to allow even the child to know he detected her. Shadow wondered why Cream chose to give him the doll, but it went with the flowers into his private room.

_He struck out at two of them. They would have tried to stop him. Once he dealt with them he turned back to his objective. _

"_Hold it Shadow," Sonic got to his knees and raised his head. "You mind telling me what this is all about?" He asked in a challenge. _

_Shadow advanced on Sonic, but they were nearly equal in strength. Sonic managed to hold Shadow off long enough for Tails to arrive. _

"_Sonic," he called out. Sonic barely took attention from me to shout his command. "Hurry, grab Cosmo and run!"_

_Shadow wasn't about to let them stop him. He ricocheted off the walls and took Sonic down, but Tails quickly started blocking Shadow from advancing using the ships security system, but it did not matter he had to complete his objective. _

_He blasted through door after door searching for them. Knuckles tried to stop him, but he threw a chaos spear at a stem vent, and lost him in the fog. _

_The wiley fox tried to get past him with his plane, but Shadow stopped him there, destroying his toy. Again and again Tails tried to stop him. He blasted Shadow out of a cannon, but he just used Chaos control to return. In desperation Tails tries to attack him, but he just punched the child aside. Nothing was going to stop him from completing his mission. _

"_Let's get this over with shall we?" Shadow reached out, grabbed the girl by the throat, and squeezed. He felt her wind pipe collapse under his grasp, and because he didn't want her to suffer, made sure to crush her spine as well. He let go and watched her crumble to a heap on the floor. Finished he turned away from her to leave, but stopped when he heard a voice._

"_Why Shadow? Why?" She shouldn't be able to breath much less speak. She should be dead already. Shadow looked down, but the hair is gold instead of green. The flowered dress is sky blue, and the face that looks up at him is human. _

_It is Maria._

_No, this can't be! He didn't kill Maria! The soldier did. He hunted them down without mercy. They chased he and Maria through the entire ARK._

_Just like he chased Cosmo down._

_His world suddenly twisted in a double vision of hunted and hunter in one. He killed her, I killed her. What did I do? What did I just do?_

"_Why Shadow Why?"_

"_No! Maria! I didn't mean! I didn't want to-"_

"_Why?"_

NO! Shadow bolted upright in his bed. He could feel arms around him, and a soft voice coaxing him to wake up. It took a moment for the horror of the nightmare to sink in, but once it did, all he could do was fall into the arms holding him, and cry himself into exhaustion.

When he woke later with Rouge in his bed yet again Shadow felt a deep depression. Why? Why had he been so ruthless? Why did he act towards Cosmo the way humans acted towards him?

He crept out of bed without waking Rouge, and didn't resist the urge to go into his separate room. Quietly he slipped into the room, and seated himself in the large reclining chair. He draped a knit blanket over his lap and sat in the chair staring at the empty bed he placed in the room. He must have dozed a little, because he didn't realize how long he spent in the room until he felt ready to leave. Rouge sat outside in his main room looking cross.

"So where were you?" Rouge asked. Shadow gave her an odd look. She could see where he came out of. Shadow suspected that she wanted to know why he went into the room.

"I'm fine," he said instead.

Rouge frowned. "You still don't want to talk about it." She asked.

"No," Shadow answered simply. Most of the time when he stated bluntly that he didn't want to talk about it, Rouge dropped the conversation.

Rouge looked Shadow up and down. "At least tell me you remember going in there," she said flatly.

The nightmare flashed through his mind. "I remember," he said trying to suppress the shudder.

Rouge now gave him a look that helped him remember the few lessons Espio gave him on blocking his thoughts and emotions. He filled his mind with the color blue, and went off to find some breakfast.

All day the dream simmered in the back of Shadow's mind. Finally the need to get his mind off the dream sent him to chop wood for Vanilla. Instead of simply splitting the logs that were available, Shadow went after one of the fallen trees waiting to be cut up and savagely attacked the wood.

"Man, what did the tree do to you?" A voice said from behind him. Shadow whirled to see Sonic sitting on another fallen tree.

"What do you want?" Shadow snapped, not wanting to deal with happy chipper Sonic.

"Heard you were in a mood today," Sonic said casually. "You snapped at Rouge, and now I find you here now turning logs into kindling. Do you want to talk about it?"

"There is nothing to talk about," Shadow said firmly, swinging the ax down onto the wood with a savage fury.

"The hedgehog is saying no no no, but the wood is saying please please please!" Sonic teased.

Without missing a beat Shadow countered, "And the ax is saying let me at the blue hedgehog."

Sonic burst out laughing. "That was pretty good," he said, still giggling, "but seriously you might feel better if you talk about it. You didn't go sleepwalking or anything again did you?"

"I didn't go sleepwalking if that's what you're worried about," Shadow muttered, trying to keep his attention on the wood.

"But something happened," Sonic said quietly. Shadow tried to ignore him, but Sonic wouldn't be denied. "Shadow all I want to do is help you out. Why won't you talk about it?"

Shadow turned the question around. "Why do you want to help me so much? Why do you even care at all?"

To his surprise Sonic thought about it, and gave him a shrug in answer. "Don't know really. I just can't stand by watching someone who needs help, and do nothing."

Shadow wondered at that. It almost sounded like a compulsion. Shadow shrugged the thought off, and said, "Well I told you before I don't need your help."

Sonic sighed. "All right, but if you want to talk later, I'll be around," Sonic said, and with that he vanished leaving only a breeze in his wake.

Coming Soon Chapter 12

A Shattered Secrete

"Take it back right now faker or-" Shadow began his quills bristling with anger, but Sonic cut him off.

"Shadow, it's the truth whether you want to believe it or n-" Sonic didn't get the rest out, because at that moment Shadow tackled him, and tried to land a right cross across Sonic's jaw. Sonic blocked the blow, and threw Shadow off to one side.

"Take it back!" Shadow demanded. He tried again to force Sonic to the ground, but this time Sonic, ready for him, dodged, and Shadow ended up hitting the wall off the hanger.


	12. Chapter 12

In Cosmo's Shadow

By Kellie Fay

Disclaimer: Sonic, Shadow, Tails, Cosmo, and the others all belong to SEGA, Team Sonic, 4 Kids and other people not me.

To lydiathetigeropean: Cosmo is back sort of, check out my story "A Seedrian Grows on Mobius" to understand that. Maria...Not so much but you will see her if you keep reading this! I'm putting Shadow through ALOT!

*Waves always to Kirai-Ninja

To Everyone Else! PLEASE REVIEW!

Chapter 12

A Shattered Secrete

Shadow worked until the three full logs were all gone, and in their place was a stack of quartered fireplace sized logs. He felt winded and a little tired, and he considered that good. He went over to Vanilla to pick up his bartered goods, and ran into Cream Cheese, and Charmy. Cream had a basket with five star fruits inside.

"Here Mister Shadow," Cream said politely. She handed him the basket. "I heard you were very unhappy today, so The Star Tree gave us lots of fruits to make you feel better."

Shadow couldn't help, but think how odd it was that Cream said the tree gave her the fruit, but then again he had watched enough times to know it was the truth. You simply stood under the tree, and most of the time a ripe fruit would fall into your hand.

_And who told her I was unhappy?_

"Thank you," Shadow said. The few encounters he had with Cream had taught him that the girl was very polite, and shy, but she trusted Sonic implicitly so when Sonic chose to include Shadow in their little circle of friends she simply welcomed him. Shadow decided he wouldn't betray Sonic by being harsh with the girl.

"Boy you're lucky Shadow," Charmy said looking enviously at the five fruits. "She really likes you. Everyone else only gets one fruit. You're the only one besides Tails she gives more than one to at a time!"

"You speak of that tree as if it were a person," Shadow said puzzled.

Charmy opened his mouth, and was about to say something else, but Cheese, Cream's little chao, suddenly started chirping in a warning manner, causing the bug to close his mouth.

"Well I know mother has lots of stuff for you, thank you for helping us with the wood pile," Cream said, she pushed Charmy in front of her and the two children and the chao vanished.

A little confused Shadow gathered his goods from Vanilla, and added the basket with the star fruits to it. He was just leaving when he heard Cream and Charmy whispering behind the house.

"You have to really be careful about talking about her in front of Tails and Shadow, Charmy." Cream said in a worried tone.

Shadow froze and listened.

"Espio told me that Sonic was going to tell Shadow though," Charmy said.

"He was going to, but last night Shadow had a horrible nightmare about her, and she asked Sonic to wait a few more days before he brought up the idea. He doesn't want Shadow reacting the way Amy did," Cream's voice said.

_What do these children know that I don't know?_ Shadow wondered. He thought about the little hints the children did give him.

_Sonic wants to tell me but a mysterious "she" wanted to wait._

_My nightmare was about this mysterious "she"_

Shadow frowned. _That doesn't make any sense. The nightmare I had last night was about Maria and the girl Cosmo._

_Cosmo-_

_Her people were plant based. That's a tree. They grew it from the seed after Cosmo was blown apart with…well with Sonic and I._

Could it be? Could the tree and the girl be the same person? Could a tree have an intelligence? He had to know.

Shadow marched over to the yard behind Tails' workshop, and found Sonic dozing against the side of the hanger. The moment he walked past Sonic, he heard a soft sad voice say, "I was going to tell you."

Shadow stopped in his tracks. "You didn't,"

Sonic sighed. "She told me about the dream you had this morning. She didn't cause it, but she was afraid you'd blame her for it. She wanted me to wait a few more weeks."

"Why didn't you tell me when I first arrived?" Shadow said, angry that they kept this from him.

Now Sonic opened his eyes, and gazed at Shadow speculatively. "We wanted to wait awhile. You seemed to be going through a tough time. We didn't want to stretch your belief in us."

Shadow's common sense kept telling him that Sonic spoke the truth, but he also could now piece together several things that often confused him. "She was the one who told you about all my dreams. She's the reason you'd come to my house when I'd have a nightmare."

Sonic nodded, and got to his feet. "Shadow, I promise I'll answer all your questions, and tell you anything you want to know, but can we take this conversation somewhere else? I don't want to upset anyone else about this."

For a moment Shadow didn't understand, but then he noticed Tails working in his shop, and how quiet Sonic's voice sounded. "He doesn't know," Shadow said. "He's your best friend, and you haven't told him the girl survived."

Sonic suddenly frowned and locked eyes with his ebony and crimson reflection. Shadow felt a tingle in the back of his mind, and he clearly heard Sonic's voice in his mind saying, _Shadow, not here and not now!_

"Why not?" Shadow countered. "Are you afraid the cub will hear, and realize she's here? Why are you keeping this from him?"

_Shadow please, _Sonic pleaded silently. _She's tried to reach Tails. He can't hear her, not the way Cream and I can. We want to tell him, but we're not sure how to. Amy thought I was crazy when she first found out. Heck, I thought I was crazy myself!_

"That option is still open you know." Shadow told him. "And get out of my head!"

"Then let's take this conversation somewhere else." Sonic said evenly.

Shadow considered. "What's to stop me from marching into his workshop right now, and telling him the truth about that tree," he demanded.

"Not a thing," Sonic answered honestly, "except I don't think you really want to. I don't think you're the type of person who hurts people just because you can. That was before."

"Before?" Shadow asked.

"You might not remember our first meeting, but I do. You really got a thrill out of rattling me, then leaving me to take the heat. And I know when you thought I died out in space you gloated over it to Chris, but even when you got back most of your memories you never deliberately hurt someone's feelings just to make them feel bad. That professor guy put that stuff in your head."

All through Sonic's little speech images flashed through his mind. He saw himself with this desire to _hurt_ to cause pain, to destroy...

_Did he almost destroy the Earth?_

In his mind he saw Christopher Thorndike, a young boy, beaten by someone advancing and speaking to him.

_Did I hurt him?_ Somehow Shadow knew that he did hurt the Thorndike boy. Just like he knew that the boy awakened his true memories of Maria's last moments.

That meant that Sonic was right. Professor Gerald hadn't just altered his memory. He altered his mind.

His Father.

_Night and day I've planned, so long after I am gone, my revenge will be complete. My enemies think they have defeated me. But Shadow will carry out my orders without question. Now it sleeps, but one day it will be reawakened! Shadow will bring total destruction!_

Shadow pushed the thought away. "It's not true it couldn't be true. Professor Gerald wouldn't hurt me. He wouldn't use me like that!"

Sonic blinked surprised at Shadow's anger. Then suddenly realization dawned on the blue hedgehog. "That's it," he said amazed. "That's what triggered your sleepwalking the other night. You read the notes on how Egg-man's grandfather altered your memory, and you don't want to face it."

"Stop talking about the Professor like that!" Shadow demanded.

Sonic frowned, and his voice grew hard. "Shadow, you may not like it, but you have to face it. He used you. This is why you tried to destroy the Earth. I'm not saying he was in his right mind when he did it, but it happened."

"Don't say that! The Professor was a genius." Shadow drew himself into a fighting pose, ready to jump Sonic if he dared speak badly about the Professor again.

Sonic also drew into a ready position. "Shadow I know you don't want to fight me, but you have to face this. He might have started with good intentions, but by the time it was all over he wasn't sane anymore. Not even Egg-man wanted to destroy the whole world!"

"Take it back right now faker or-" Shadow began, his quills bristling with anger, but Sonic cut him off.

"Shadow it's the truth whether you want to believe it or n-" Sonic didn't get the rest out, because at that moment Shadow tackled him, and tried to land a right cross across Sonic's jaw. Sonic blocked the blow, and threw Shadow off to one side.

"Take it back!" Shadow demanded. He tried again to force Sonic to the ground, but this time Sonic, ready for him, dodged, and Shadow ended up hitting the wall off the hanger.

The noise attracted both Tails and Amy who came out to the back of the workshop. "They better not hurt my tree," Tails said angrily.

"Tails, what's going on? Why are they fighting?" Amy asked.

Tails shook his head, his two tails twitching up and down in his agitation. "I don't know, they were arguing about something, or at least Shadow was trying to argue, I couldn't even hear what Sonic said. Then all of a sudden Shadow jumped him."

"Great, Shadow has finally gone off the deep end," Amy muttered.

Meanwhile Sonic kept just a fraction of a centimeter away from Shadow's fists. "Shadow, calm down! You don't want to do this!" Sonic insisted.

"I am going to make you regret saying all those things about the Professor!" Shadow growled. He tried to tackle Sonic again, but Sonic jumped up into the tall oak that covered the hanger.

"Sonic, can't you two take this somewhere else?" Tails called out.

Still dodging Shadow, Sonic called out, jumping back out of the tree, "Sorry this wasn't my idea. Shadow in a bit of denial"

"If Shadow thinks he's living in a river in Egypt then he's living on the wrong planet!" Amy shot back.

Shadow lunged at Sonic again, and he jumped back. Unfortunately the ground beneath his left foot gave way causing him to sink into the hole, temporarily anchoring him to the ground. Instantly Shadow moved forward determined to bury Sonic into the ground.

_**SHADOW STOP!**_

Shadow's world exploded into a world of white light and an electric pain. He fell to his knees, and found the burning pain in his arms and legs paralyzing him.

_Shadow you know that Sonic is right! Hurting Sonic isn't going to change the truth._

Shadow crouched in the grass on his hands and knees. He couldn't move, but he could hear the conversation around him.

"What was that all about?" Amy asked.

"Long story," Sonic said, breathing heavily, "Which I don't think I should say out loud. Who hit him?"

"Nobody hit him," Tails said, sounding puzzled. "He just cried out and fell over."

"No...no," Shadow managed to force out. "The...the girl struck me."

"What girl?" Tails asked.

Suddenly Amy cried out, "oh no, Cosmo!"

"Amy?" Tails asked.

Amy's voice sounded sharp and angry. "I hope you're proud of yourself, Shadow. The Star Tree lost about two dozen leaves trying to stop you."

Shadow managed to force his head upward, and looked at the tree that he now knew held Cosmo's spirit. At least twenty bright green leaves lay scattered at the roots of the tree.

"Amy, how could The Star Tree stop Shadow?" Tails asked, but Shadow didn't register that. Too many other thoughts ran through his mind.

_Why Shadow why?_

_She told Sonic all my dreams._

_She knows my dreams! _

_Why Shadow why?_

_She knows why I walk in my sleep._

Suddenly Shadow felt completely exposed, and emotionally naked in front of the fox and the two hedgehogs. She could tell them everything in his mind. He couldn't hide from them.

_He couldn't hide from her._

An overwhelming desire to escape, and run welled up inside of him.

"Shadow?"

At the sound of Sonic's voice, Shadow turned and faced the concerned hedgehog, but it could not distract him from the truth. _She can tell him everything. I can't hide anything from her._

_I can't hide anything from him!_

Shadow shoved Sonic away for him. "Leave me alone!" he shouted. Somehow he managed to get to his feet, and he ran from the village. All he wanted to do was run. He didn't want to go back, not now, not ever.

When Shadow finally stopped running he didn't recognize the area. It didn't matter to him where he ended up though. All he wanted was to find someplace where no one knew him. He wanted a place where no one ever heard of the Meterex, or Planet Earth, or the Ultimate Life Form.

He continued traveling far into the night, and only stopped when he found a small cave. He settled down in a small crevice in the cave, ignoring the cold, and his empty belly. He didn't need to eat regularly. He was the Ultimate Life Form. He didn't need anything, or anyone.

When he woke in the morning he shook the dust out of his quills, and made his way to the mouth of the cave. Resting in the center of the cave entrance was a brown knapsack. Inside he found some of Amy's fruit and nut bars, a tightly folded blanket, three Star fruits, the data chip and journal, and to his surprise Sonic's light blue chaos emerald.

_Why not my red one?_ Someone wrapped the emerald in a piece of paper. Examining the paper more carefully, he read the note in Sonic's direct block print.

_Take however long you need to figure out what you're looking for. Nobody is mad at you, and Cosmo is just fine. She explained why you got so ticked at me, and why you ran off, but if you want to be on your own for a while that's okay too. Come on home when you're ready. _

_S. _

Sonic's open honesty shown througheven in the impartial letter. All at once Shadow felt shame and guilt about what he did. He didn't even remember what Sonic said that set him off. _It doesn't matter though, _Shadow told himself. _I don't belong there with the others. I don't look any different from other hedgehogs on this planet. I can blend in, and finally leave my past behind me._

Slinging the pack over his back Shadow looked out at the vast canyon area around him. Picking a direction at random Shadow headed off, putting Sonic the Hedgehog out of his mind.

Coming Soon Chapter 13

A Year on the Road

The chao floated near Shadow's left shoulder, and in its own bizarre language verbally berated the stupid bird. Shadow glanced up at his new little companion, and said quietly. "I would suggest you move my friend. I do not think he is in a reasoning mood."

"Oh another vermin lover," The second Raptor said. "You should get a real job instead of shepherding chao around! Me and my brother are porters for the guy who lives outside Green Hill Valley. He's an important guy. We don't need to bother with a little squirt like you. Who do you think you are anyway, the Blue Blur?"


	13. Chapter 13

In Cosmo's Shadow

By Kellie Fay

Disclaimer: Sonic, Shadow, Tails, Cosmo, and the others all belong to SEGA, Team Sonic, 4 Kids and other people not me

*sigh 400 hits only 4 Reviews. That's 1% for the mathematically challenged. Oh really it's less than that because Kirai-Ninja Reviewed 3 times. PLEASE REVIEW!

Chapter 13

A Year on the Road

The innkeeper gave him his food, and left him alone in the back of the tavern. In the past year Shadow learned that much of what Sonic told him about towns and villages here was true. If you traveled, the best way to get steady room and board was to do manual labor for others. Today had been a long day of cutting firewood, and lifting, but the work was now over and he had two days of favors stored up with the innkeeper.

The last year settled into a familiar if tedious pattern; wander, find a town or village, work or eat until trouble found him, deal with said trouble, pay for damages, leave. The longest he ever stayed in one place was two weeks. Usually it took less than a week for trouble to find him. He never started fights, but he finished him, and because he was the stranger in the town, the blame always fell on him.

He ate silently, and nodded thanks when the innkeeper placed a mug of coffee next to his plate. Today there didn't seem to be anything to catch his attention. He noted the pair of raptors at the bar drinking something that made them burp and talk loudly. Shadow considered them braggarts and fools, but even fools could be dangerous at times. No one else seemed worthy of his full attention, until a silver three tailed vixen came into the inn accompanied by a pale orange chao.

Shadow strove to back up further into his corner. Ever since he left the Green Hill Valley he found that he not only became a magnet for trouble, but every chao within a three mile radius would find their way to his side. He had a sneaking suspicion that the little buggers were not only empathic, but also possessed a way to communicate with Cream's little pet far off in the Valley. No matter where he went, a chao would find him. The owner would always appear five minutes later apologizing and sometimes Shadow would actually get a meal or a bed out of the deal. He knew that Sonic could probably find him if he wanted to, but he never saw a sign of the blue hedgehog for the entire year he'd been on the road. If the chao were reporting information to Cheese then Sonic, it would explain the lack of pursuit.

Sure enough the chao moved right for Shadow. He braced himself for the tackle hug the creatures always gave him, but a scream caught his attention.

"Come on Pie, Stop fooling with those critters. You need a man in your life. Come and spend time with me and Jake here."

The dark red raptor grabbed the vixen by the arm.

Fear shown clearly in her eyes, "Let go of me!" She shouted.

Shadow didn't need the little chao at his side to beg to save his mistress. If there was one thing he learned about himself on the road it was his hatred of bullies. Shadow took one look and the unsettled innkeeper, and said softly. "I am sorry."

The innkeeper sighed, but didn't protest when Shadow moved forward to take charge of the two raptors.

The fox girl still tried to pull away from the raptor. The little pale orange chao flew over and tried to separate the bird from his mistress. Annoyed the raptor dropped the fox's arm and reached out to strike the chao. "Annoying little pest!" He said.

Shadow grabbed his hand using just a fraction of his real strength to keep the stupid bird paralyzed. "I would suggest if you don't want to get hurt you leave the girl and her chao alone." Shadow suggested calmly.

The Raptor he held looked worried. Shadow knew that he felt the suppressed strength in his hand. The second Raptor foolishly pushed his friend out of the way, and tried to challenge Shadow himself. "Mind your own business stranger. This doesn't concern you."

The chao floated near Shadow's left shoulder, and in its own bizarre language verbally berated the stupid bird. Shadow glanced up at his new little companion, and said quietly. "I would suggest you move friend. I do not think he is in a reasoning mood."

"Oh another vermin lover," The second raptor said. "You should get a real job instead of shepherding chao around! Me and my brother are porters for the guy who lives outside Green Hill Valley. He's an important guy. We don't need to bother with a little squirt like you. Who do you think you are anyway, The Blue Blur?"

That did it.

He knocked the first brother unconscious so he would not interfere, and in one move grabed the arms of the other, and pulled back forcing him to his knees in pain. With a smug smile of satisfaction Shadow pulled little more making his adversary realize that he could easily pop the arms out of their sockets if he chose to.

"If you want to live to pursue your career of working for Egg-Man, you will never compare me to Sonic the Hedgehog again." Shadow said quietly.

With that he dropped the arms, and knocked him unconscious also. All too often before he would leave his opponents conscious to consider their error, and they thought to attack Shadow when his back was turned. Now he always made sure only he remained standing after a fight.

Instantly the chao came back to his side obviously pleased that he eliminated the threat. The vixen simply stood back looking at Shadow worriedly.

Shadow sighed, and began to walk out of the tavern. He resigned himself to an evening back on the road. The chao flew in front of him suddenly squeaking and shaking its head. It clearly didn't wish him to leave.

"Peaches, let him go," the kistune said sharply. It made Shadow smile and relax a bit. So the girl was strong willed enough to command chao instead of blindly going along with whatever her pet wanted. Chao were deceptive little things. They seemed harmless and helpless, but they were empathic. Shadow knew they survived by making others love them. Without understanding why chao continued to follow him, he decided early on that he did not want to fall into their trap. He avoided chao, but unfortunately they went out of their way to find him.

"It is best that you listen to your mistress," he said to the creature hating looking the thing in the eye. "You can tell Cheese I am fine." He tries to leave again, but the little chao laughed, and continued to block his way. In the back of his mind Shadow could sense that he pleased the chao somehow. Then it turned and squeaked to the girl.

"You know Cream and Cheese?" The girl asked, her three tails flicking back and forth nervously.

Shadow shrugged. "Yes, I haven't seen them in quite some time though."

The little chao, Peaches chirped again. "What does it want?" He asked annoyed.

The girl frowned at the chao. "She said you have to come and meet my grandmother."

"And you don't want me to?" Shadow asked. He knew he looked and acted intimidating, but he didn't know why this girl was reacting to him like this.

The girl shook her head firmly. "It's not that," she said. "I…I can't be near people. There are too many things in their heads and you..."

Shadow understood. She had some kind of talent of the mind, but she could not control it well. _No wonder she kept company with chao,_ he thought. If she had no control over what she saw or felt within the minds of others his turbulent mind would be a whirlwind to her.

Remembering what Espio did teach him, he calmed himself, and allowed the color blue to fill up his mind. "My apologies," he said, "It has been a long time since I had to suppress my thoughts among others. Is that better?"

The girl looked at him surprised. "Most people don't know how to do that," she said.

That sounded like a compliment "A friend taught me," he said.

The girl looked him up and down, now obviously quite puzzled. "I've never felt anyone like you before. Do you want to come meet my grandmother? Peaches wants you to."

Shadow gave the girl his own visual look over. Her three silver tails twitched up and down like a nervous habit. Shadow tried to recall what he knew about kitsune from Tails. The memories unfortunately came up short. The little chao, Peaches, grabbed onto his arm, and tugged gently, chirping. Its intentions were clear. With the distinct impression that he was going to regret his decision, he took in a deep breath, and said, "I suppose I should. I am Shadow."

"My name is Pie," she says. For a time they walked along in silence with Peaches happily flying between us. Then she asked. "So why don't you like Sonic the Hedgehog?"

Shadow winced. He didn't realize she noticed his comment to the raptor. "I don't hate him," he said sharply, hoping that it didn't sound too much like a flat denial. "I just don't like being compared to him. I am sick and tired of people asking me if I'm related, or if I know him, or if I'm as fast, or as strong as he is." Privately he wondered if Sonic tired of the comparison also.

"It must be very annoying," she agreed. Somehow Shadow knew that she did understand. He wondered about her powers, and he wondered where she intended to lead him.

Coming Soon:

Chapter 14

She Sees Without Eyes

He opened his mouth to speak, but she had more to say. "I surprised you, hey lad? Don't know why. I can feel the demons running around inside of you boy. I can feel them in your blood and I can hear them in your mind. Now the ones in your blood, that's you and you're controlling them fine, but the ones in your mind…Well you're the one who has to fix those boy. Ain't no one who can do that for you."


	14. Chapter 14

In Cosmo's Shadow

By Kellie Fay

Disclaimer: Sonic, Shadow, Tails, Cosmo, and the others all belong to SEGA, Team Sonic, 4 Kids and other people not me

Okay so call me superstitious I didn't want to post a 13 without a 14 REVIEW ANYWAY!

Chapter 14

She sees without eyes

She led Shadow to a poor part of the town where many of the buildings were gutted and empty. She smiled when she saw him looking about in confusion.

"You live around here?" He asked appalled.

"Yes and no," she said. She led him into one of the abandoned buildings. The place possessed a sound structure, but Shadow could see the plaster hanging from the walls on the verge of falling, and the floors were dusty and unkempt. It looked like no one had lived here in ages.

She led him down into the basement to a strange room that had a circular doorway. Along one side of the walls computer monitors and indicators beeped and lit up doing their tedious jobs.

Pie turned around, and offered him her hand. Peaches hopped onto her shoulder. "It's right though here," she said. Suddenly nervous Shadow took her hand and passed through the porthole.

Inside he found paradise.

The golden sun beat down pleasantly from a sky bluer than Sonic's fur. Lush forest green grass cushioned his feet. He took a deep breath, taking in the sweet tropical scents of the place, so different from the pollution and dirt they just left. No wonder Espio always told him a chao garden would be a good place to center, and cleanse his mind and spirit. He couldn't imagine a more peaceful place in the world.

And then the chao descended on him. There were at least a dozen of them of a variety of ages and colors. All of them decided at once that they wanted to be his best friend. They grabbed on to his arms, legs, neck, and even his quills. All of them were smiling and chirping in their strange language. Even worse like a rainstorm descending on him, he felt enveloped within their communal empathic thoughts. In that moment he knew that Cheese did ask the others to watch for him. Communally they all decided he needed to be loved and cared for. Their innocent sense of welcome and belonging almost felt like a physical pain to him. He felt that he did not deserve that kind of trust. "No!" he protested shaking the emotions out of his mind. "Get off me!"

Pie clapped her hands, and commanded the little creatures sharply. "Come now off of him! You're scaring him."

Instantly the chao released him, yet he could sense they felt disappointed that he didn't automatically love them back. He turned about to snap that he wasn't afraid of chao when he heard the voice of an elderly woman cackle in laughter.

"Never heard of anything alive that was afraid of being loved," the voice said. Shadow turned to see Pie's grandmother. Where Pie had three tails this woman had seven. For no reason he could understand that put him on his guard. Her pale, almost white blue fur seemed a little ratty in old age. Down each of her tails ran a pale gold stripe. In her youth she must have been quiet a beautiful creature, and even in her old age she had a beauty about her and an air of power that made you stop and pay attention to her.

Around her eyes she wore a deep red rag. _She's blind, _Shadow thought, but he sensed that she didn't need her eyes, and she confirmed that when she raised her hand, and beckoned him to come forward.

"Come here child, come here. Let me see if I can get a feel for ye," she said, her voice raspy, but at the same time full of strength. For no reason at all Shadow felt compelled to obey her. Even though she was blind he felt vulnerable in front of Pie's grandmother. She held herself in a way that told him power dwelled within her, a power he didn't understand, but he knew that power needed to be respected.

"So you're the one my Peaches needed to hunt down hey?" She said chuckling. "Can see why the other called a watch on you hedgehog. The Chaos energy is strong in you, stronger than in any I've touched before save our runner," she chuckled. "But he was born to power and made the Chaos his own. You my lad were never born at all."

_How the hell does she know that?_ The shocked thought came to him. He opened his mouth to speak, but she had more to say. "I surprised you, hey lad? Don't know why. I can feel the demons running around inside of you boy. I can feel them in your blood, and I can hear them in your mind. Now the ones in your blood, that's you and you're controlling them fine, but the ones in your mind…Well you're the one who has to fix those boy. Ain't no one who can do that for you."

_Demons in my blood…_ The ones in his mind he knew all too well, and struggled with still, but the demons in in blood. Did she mean Black Doom? How in two worlds could she know that? _And if she knew that, what else does she know about me?_

Suddenly a question he wanted answered all his life fell into his mind, and traveled to his mouth before he could stop it. "If you know all that about me woman, you must tell me, I need to know, what am I?"

She laughed. "You both are and are not what you think you are, child," she said. "A child of three bodies, two worlds, and one mind, you and your reflection knew that the moment you laid eyes on each other lad."

_Me and my reflection knew…_ He wasn't exactly sure what the old woman meant, except for that one time him and Sonic discussed….. "Wait, are you saying that Sonic and I were right? That I'm…" The words caught in his throat. _Could that even be possible?_

"Three bodies, two worlds, one mind," the woman repeated. "That hole between worlds has been cut more times than you and your friends know lad," she said. "You belong here as much as you do there. Your base might have been small, but your soul's father knew where to find ways to make your stronger, then he went, and found ways to make you strongest."

_Black Doom,_ he acknowledged. So Doctor Gerald knew of Sonic's world, and some forgotten Mobian Hedgehog combined with the Earth Hedgehog and Black Doom to create him.

"Never forget that demon's in you too, lad," she continued. "Ye needs him to make the Chaos flow. Ye needs to balance your darkness, and your light to create the Chaos energy."

_Great I'm the living embodiment of one of Rouge's favorite movies,_ he thought to himself. He still wanted to know how she knew about Doctor Gerald and Black Doom.

"You need to take care of those demons in your mind boy," she tells him. "They're what's keeping you from living in peace."

"I know," he said, not sure why he felt like confessing this to the old woman. "There is much within my mind that is still lost. Fighting Black Doom was easy. Fighting what's in my mind is much harder."

"True enough," she agreed. "But you can win that battle, if ye wants to. Opening yer heart is the first step lad. If'in you do that, you'll find a strength that nothin' can stop."

He nodded accepting her words. He didn't know if he understood it, but he felt like he heard part of that speech before. _Open your heart._ "Thank you for the advice," he said bowing his head a little in acknowledgement. "I need to be going now."

"Weather's mighty fierce, lad," Pie's grandmother said chuckling. "Ye might want to stay the night. We've got plenty of room."

The idea of spending the night here in a chao garden sent a shiver up and down his spine. _And how does she know what the weather is outside of this pocket of existence anyway? _"Thank you for the offer, but I really must go," he said trying not to sound rude. Before she could say anything else he fled the gardens, and went back out through the porthole.

Coming Soon Chapter 15

Alone in the night.

"You heard your grandmother. There are things within my mind that I need to be in control of." Shadow explained.

"The Demons?" Pie asked. When Shadow nodded she said, "I didn't understand a lot of that. Why are there demons in your blood and in your mind?"

"I've been through a lot," he said with a sigh.

"Like what?" She asks.

He didn't even realize he was curling up tighter with stress until she put a blanket around his shoulders. He felt his stomach churning, but for some reason the usual "I don't want to talk about it," refused to come out of his mouth. "It's not a good story," he chose instead.

"Then maybe it's a story you need to tell," she answers.

"It's long," he countered.

"It's a long night."

"I don't know if I can," he said, putting his head down on his knees.

"I can feel you a little, again," she tells him. She reached out to take his hand, and leaned up against his body "You're afraid."

Shadow found it harder and harder to come up with excuses. "You may not like me very much after this story," he said.

"Everyone has ghosts they have to face," she says. "Close your eyes. Start at the beginning."


	15. Chapter 15

In Cosmo's Shadow

By Kellie Fay

Disclaimer: Sonic, Shadow, Tails, Cosmo, and the others all belong to SEGA, Team Sonic, 4 Kids and other people not me

*waves again to Kirai-Ninja* Thanks for the Review: I'm glad your enjoying the story.

To the rest: Come on! I know you can review!

Chapter 15

Alone in the night

He passed through the porthole and to his dismay found out that the old woman could tell the weather from within the chao garden. Thunder and lightning crashed down from above, and rain poured from the sky in sheets.

"Just perfect," he said sitting down on an outcropping of cold damp concrete.

"You could come back inside, and tell grandmother you changed your mind," Shadow heard behind him. He spun around to see Pie leaning against the porthole to the chao garden, with Peaches on her shoulder.

"I could think of many places I'd rather spend the night, than in a chao garden." He said. Pie looked at him without comprehending.

"Well if you want to spend the night out here, I have some blankets here." She says. She moved over to metal storage box. Inside lay a wooden chest filled with blankets and other supplies. "I keep stuff like this around for emergencies," she explains.

"Thank you," Shadow said. Pie looked at him still puzzled.

"I still don't get why you don't want to spend the night in the garden," she said frowning at him.

Shadow decided to go for honestly. "Your friends are very cute, but I don't like the effect they have on me. You know they are very powerful if they chose to be."

"It's how they communicate. It bothers you?" She asks.

"You heard your grandmother. There are things within my mind that I need to be in control of." Shadow explained.

"The Demons?" Pie asked. When Shadow nodded she said, "I didn't understand a lot of that. Why are there demons in your blood and in your mind?"

"I've been through a lot," he said with a sigh.

"Like what?" She asks.

He didn't even realize he was curling up tighter with stress until she put a blanket around his shoulders. He felt his stomach churning, but for some reason the usual "I don't want to talk about it," refused to come out of his mouth. "It's not a good story," he chose instead.

"Then maybe it's a story you need to tell," she answers.

"It's long," he countered.

"It's a long night."

"I don't know if I can," he said putting his head down on his knees.

"I can feel you a little, again," she tells me. She reached out to take his hand, and leaned up against his body "You're afraid."

Shadow found it harder and harder to come up with excuses. "You may not like me very much after this story," he said.

"Everyone has ghosts they have to face." She says. "Close your eyes. Start at the beginning."

A small part of Shadow's mind knew that Pie was manipulating him. For a brief second the memory of Black Doom trying to control him flared, but within his mind Pie argued that she would never harm him like that. The strange easy restful emotions Pie placed into him pulled back a little. He now felt his thoughts floating between his control and the emotional swaths of bandages that she tried to implant.

_I can feel within you the deep hurts you have experienced;_ Pie spoke directly into his mind. _Grandmother said you have to heal them on your own, but before anything can heal you have to cut the infected parts away. It's painful, but Peaches and I can help you bare the pain. We can help you, but you have to want us to._

Shadow knew that if he said no, she'd pull back and drop the subject, but maybe the year of isolation affected him, because he realized that for the first time in a long time he felt like leaning on someone else's strength. He didn't have many friends who he felt he could rely on, and he abandoned most of them; Sonic of course, and Rouge, Cream, and Cosmo made the overtures but he pushed them away. Cosmo being the last straw that made him run. She could look into his mind, and knew what he held there.

Pie couldn't help but look into his mind. Like Cosmo she didn't flinch from what she saw there. Instead she offered to help him begin to heal the pain that he felt within. He opened his mouth to say something, but he couldn't think to form any words either positive or negative. Pie reached over and lightly began scratching the back of his neck behind the quills. _Just relax,_ her mind told his, _begin at the beginning._

Maybe it was the fact that he could have said no, or maybe the gentle methodical scratching touched a pressure point the way Rouge could turn his brain off when she wanted to, or maybe because that while the others all knew parts of his story Pie didn't know anything, but at that moment something inside of Shadow broke free, and the flood gates opened.

He told her everything. His creation in another dimension, Why Professor Gerald used Black Doom's DNA to make him indestructible, Maria, GUN infiltrating the ARK, How he knew he woke up once and did horrible things, but could not remember what, only that his friends said he saved the planet. His second awakening, with amnesia, in deep space in this dimension, the Metarex, how he woke up again back on earth just in time for Black Doom's return, and how he saved the world yet again.

While he spoke he forced himself to be brutally honest with himself, and Pie. How he mercilessly hunted down Cosmo, just like GUN hunted him and Maria, and how close he came to falling under Black Doom's control. When he finally couldn't think of anything else to say he opened his eyes and fond Pie holding him in a fierce embrace, and Peaches in his own arms his hands still absently scratching the back of the little chao's head. He never even recalled picking the creature up.

He felt completely spent. He didn't know why, but he closed his eyes again, almost dozing off before Pie spoke out loud. "I have never met anyone as emotionally strong as you Shadow. I…I can't believe you've been through so many things that would have driven other beings mad within minutes."

He never dealt well with sympathy or pity. "The professor designed me to be indestructible," he said with a shrug, but that only made her laugh.

"It wasn't the professor who made your soul so strong, Shadow," Pie said smiling. "It was the girl."

That puzzled him. "Maria? I don't understand."

"She taught you about love, compassion, and caring about others. If she hadn't you would not have been strong enough to fight Black Doom's mind control.

It was odd that she picked that particular incident to show him how much Maria affected him. "I didn't really remember much about her when I fought Black Doom," He says, realizing for the first time how much he did remember now once he started talking.

She shook her head and smiled. "Don't you see, remembering her had nothing to do with it. Her love affected you to such a deep level that even when you couldn't remember her you acted with compassion towards others."

Pie was right. Shadow never realized it before, but deep within his mind every time Black Doom tried to influence him, Maria's voice reminded him that her grandfather designed him to protect and help humans. It didn't feel like a memory. Somehow it felt deeper than that, it felt etched in his very self so that nothing could remove it.

Suddenly he felt himself leaning into Pie, and his head nodding again. "I've never felt so tired before," he confessed to her.

Pie handed him a few more blankets to cushion the rock underneath him. "Confessing all that does require energy. It's no wonder you're exhausted."

He nodded trying to fight off sleep for a few more moments. "Pie, I need you and Peaches to go back to the chao garden, and don't come back until I'm awake. I tend to have nightmares and they are not for the faint of heart."

"I'm not afraid of your nightmares," she said. "I'd think you'd want someone with you if you dream."

"People who tend to stay with me when I dream tend to end up with bruises. " He tells her. "Pie I'm not afraid of what you'll see in my mind, I'm afraid I'll hurt you. It's happened before, and I don't want it to happen to you."

Pie nodded understanding. "I see. All right Shadow, I'll go, but I hope your dreams are more peaceful tonight."

He yawned already half asleep. "Good night Pie." He heard her footsteps recede, and pillowed his head with his arms. He pulled the blankets over his head, and fell asleep instantly.

_His limbs were heavy in sleep, but he could hear clearly in the darkness. He couldn't understand how he could hear them, when logically he knew he slept far from their home in the Green Hill Valley._

"_No," Sonic's voice was flat and nonnegotiable._

_Somehow he knew the next voice he would hear would be Amy's. "Sonic we know where Shadow is now. It's less than a two day run for you, why won't you go talk to him!"_

"_If Shadow wanted to talk to me, he would be here. I told you when he left that I wasn't going to go chasing him. That hasn't changed just because he's nearby."_

_"But why Sonic?" Amy asked forcefully. "I don't understand why you invited him to live here, I don't understand why you told Egg-Man to stay away from him, and I don't understand why you switched from protecting him, to letting him run around the entire planet all by himself for over a year."_

_"I can't exactly explain it, Amy," Sonic said, "I basically use my instincts when it comes to him. I don't want Egg-Man messing with him again, until Shadow figures himself out. Rouge told me about some of the stuff he tried to pull when Shadow woke up with no memory. Shadow wants us to think that he's this indestructible ultimate life form, and he really isn't."_

_"He's not?" Shadow didn't expect to hear Tails' voice._

_"We'll he is and he isn't. As far as I can figure out he is indestructible, and I don't think he can grow old, but he's not so different from us. Rouge says she feels like she was always dealing with two Shadows; one is the big tough Ultimate Life form that doesn't need anyone that we all see, but every now and then she'd get a glimpse of a scared little hedgehog that misses the only person who ever loved him."_

_For a long time Shadow heard nothing. He began to wonder if the dream faded, when he heard Amy say. "You've seen glimpses of that scared little hedgehog too, haven't you Sonic. That's why you're so protective of him."_

_"Less than Rouge, but yeah. Half the time I think he's afraid of himself. He knows what he's capable of, and he's had too many close calls not to be afraid of what could have happened. That's why he has nightmares." Then Sonic chuckled and said, "Besides he's in Cobbler's territory now. There not a creature alive that can meet her and come out unchanged."_

_Tails' voice betrayed a shock. "Shadow's with Cobbler? And you're leaving him there?"_

_"You know her Tails?" Amy asked puzzled._

_"She's a kitsune sorcerous. She's really powerful. She has seven tails, and some say she can see into the future, and speak to the dead."_

_"She sounds kind of spooky," Amy said. _

_"Nah," Sonic said chuckling. She only gets spooky if you want something from her. She can sure shock you though. She told me once that running after Egg-Man was gonna have me running right out of this world. I thought she meant he was gonna kill me, but technically he did have us running out of this world, right into Chris' "_

_"You think that's what she meant?" Tails asked. _

_"I'm sure of it," Sonic added. "You'll see if Shadow is still having problems after a year she'll straighten him out." _

"_Do you think he's still having problems?" Amy asked worriedly. _

_Sonic sighed. "If he wasn't having problems he would have come home by now," Sonic said. _

"_You do worry about him," Amy said. _

_Sonic's tone sounded casual, but Shadow knew better. "I just wish I knew what he was looking for out there, that he couldn't find here."_

"_Isn't that a little hypocritical," Amy asked. "You run around, and are away for weeks at a time."_

"_Ahhh but there's a difference, Amy," Tails said sounding smug. "Sonic always runs__** to**__ something to see a friend, or simply to get a change of scenery. Sonic runs to adventure. I get the feeling Shadow is trying to run away from something." _

"_I tried that once when I was little," Sonic said with a sigh. "I learned the hard way, you can't run from a problem. If you've got a problem you have to run forward, and face it head on."_

Coming Soon:

Shadow's Challenge

"Aye, I know," Cobbler said. "Ye won't be doing that this time, lad. I'll see to it. Yer dreams may not be good afterwards, but I can hold ye down and keeps ye from hurting others." She held out her hand to him, and he could see a pale glowing yellow light sparkling in her hands. "You'll barely feel the chains on ye once they're there, but if I needs to I can tighten them and keep ye to my will. I can't force these chains on you though lad. Ye needs to take them on by your will."

For the first time in his existence Shadow felt a twinge of fear for something other than his own destructive nature. This old woman just basically told him that she can work a spell to control him.


	16. Chapter 16

In Cosmo's Shadow

By Kellie Fay

Disclaimer: Sonic, Shadow, Tails, Cosmo, and the others all belong to SEGA, Team Sonic, 4 Kids and other people not me

*waves to Whisper* I'm glad you're enjoying this. Don't worry I need to be done because I have to post another Sonic/Shadow story for April First. :) Yes this is Done! Well done but not posted.

Please Please Please Reveiw!

Chapter 16

Shadow's Challenge

During the night sometime, the rain stopped. The sun shone through the broken bits of building waking Shadow. The crimson and ebony hedgehog sat up slowly watching as stray flocks of flickys and insects went about their morning business.

The dream, while not a nightmare, to his relief, made him feel odd all the same. If the dream was real he was now in the territory of a powerful sorcerous who could speak to the dead. Could he find her? And if he did find her could she help him? He wasn't even sure what he wanted help with, only that he needed something, and he didn't know what.

"Shadow, you're awake," Pie said. The silver vixen and her chao greeted him with a brilliant smile. "Did you sleep well?"

"I had the strangest of dreams," Shadow said not sure why he chose to tell her. "I saw some acquaintances of mine. They were concerned about me. Apparently they know where I am." He glared at the little chao who looked right back at him and giggled. _I thought so,_ he thought directly at the creature. To Pie he said, "They said that there is a powerful sorcerous in the area called Cobbler that can speak with the dead. Is that true or was it just a dream?"

Pie laughed, "the sorcerous is true enough, and you won't have to travel far to find her."

Shadow waited with one eyebrow raised. "Where do I find her?" he finally asked when she didn't say anything else.

"You've already met her," Pie answered with a giggle. "She is my grandmother."

"That explains a great deal," Shadow said. "I wish to speak to her."

Pie smiled and led him back inside the chao garden. Like before the chao descended on him, but not so enthusiastically that it overwhelmed him. He sensed that they did not wish to frighten him a second time. He greeted them absently, and slowly made his way towards the old woman.

In the year he had been away from the others he learned a few things about kitsune. Mostly he learned that kitsune with three or more tails possessed some form of magic that didn't have anything to do with chaos emeralds. He also learned that with the few exceptions that lived away from other foxes most kitsune were pompous stuck up snobs who looked down on other, non-magical, Mobians.

Pie and her grandmother didn't appear snobbish, but he kept in minds that a seven tailed kitsune had a great deal of magic.

Shadow nodded and sat down before the old woman. The ancient kitsune looked Shadow up and down then asked, "so what can I do for you laddy?"

Not sure what he wanted to ask for Shadow said, "I hear you are a sorcerous of great power," he said.

Cobbler cackled at that, "Great power did you say lad? I'm naught but a feeble old woman."

Shadow smiled, she was testing him, but this first one was easy. "There is more to you than one can see I am sure."

"Good lad," Cobbler said, "now tell me what you need."

Shadow wanted to tell her what he wanted, but like many times before, the words would not come. "I do not know," he admitted. "I only know that I am lacking in something. I have been for a very long time and I cannot find any answers on my own."

"Did ye not ask for help from your friends?" Cobbler asked.

Now Shadow knew a test when he heard it. All he could do was answer honestly. "My friends tried to help me, but I'm afraid I was not a very good friend to them."

"It took you a full year to learn that laddy?" She asked.

Not sure what he should say, Shadow lowered his head shamefully. "It is often hard for me to understand my feelings," he told her.

Cobbler looked him up and down. "A better answer than I would have hoped for, but don't forget that lesson child. 'twas always easier for you to cast out those who would do you good. Yer proud like our runner, but he knows not to let his pride blind him to others who would do him good. That is why he'd never cast you away, and he opens his heart to all. You never know who will do ye good, my boy even if they don't look it."

Not sure how to answer that, Shadow simply nodded. That seemed to meet with the old woman's approval. "All right lad. I think I can help you, but yer not ready for it yet. Ye need to do two things before I can give you what you need."

Not a surprise. This old woman seemed to be testing him for a reason known only to her. "What do you need me to do?"

Cobbler's covered eyes still seemed to bore into him. "First of all, ye need to knows yerself inside and out. You've been doing good with that since ye defeated the Dark One but ye needs to be reading that little chip inside of yer bag. Ye needs to know the whole truth on yer existence."

Shadow winced. He still carried the data chip and journal everywhere, but he never again went to look inside either. He didn't want to think about what was written in them. "The last time I tried to read those notes my sleeping mind tried to destroy them. I almost hurt a friend, and I do not remember doing so," he warned her.

"Aye, I know," Cobbler said. "Ye won't be doing that this time, lad. I'll see to it. Yer dreams may not be good afterwards, but I can hold ye down, and keeps ye from hurting others." She held out her hand to him, and he could see a pale glowing yellow light sparkling in her hands. "You'll barely feel the chains on ye once they're there, but if I needs to I can tighten them and keep ye to my will. I can't force these chains on you though lad. Ye needs to take them on by your will.

For the first time in his existence Shadow felt a twinge of fear for something other than his own destructive nature. This old woman just basically told him that she can work a spell to control him. The old nightmares about Black Doom simmered within his mind, but before he could refuse Cobbler shook her head.

"Nay nay lad! Not anything like that beast! The chains will only hold your body, not your mind child! Ye needs that mind sharp and focused. Twill be like the green one. She stopped ye, but she didn't touch yer mind."

"That is a matter of opinion," Shadow said, but he relaxed anyway. Cosmo's attack hurt his mind like nothing he ever experienced before, but she did not control his will. This old woman claimed the spell she offered him had similar properties.

"Just and so," Cobbler said holding the light before him. "Ye has to takes it from me though. I can't force it on ye."

Shadow nodded, but spent another minute looking at the spell in her hand wondering if he should. Then throwing caution to the wind, he clasped the old woman's hand in his own. He felt a slight tingle go up his wrist and along the tips of his quills. Curious he concentrated on the sensation which ended as quickly as it had begun leaving only a sparkly feeling along his wrists.

"Tis all right, you'll hardly notice it in a second," Cobbler told him.

"Very well," Shadow said still puzzled at the spell he permitted himself to fall under. He didn't feel any different at all. "If this magic of yours can keep me from harming others in my sleep I will read the professor's notes. What is the other task I must complete?"

Cobbler smiled. "Don't think I don't know the first task will be a trail for you. Afterwards ye read, and not before I wants ye to spend a day and a night here in the garden with us. It will calm yer mind and spirit for the task before ye."

Shadow sighed. "You are asking difficult things from me, old woman," he accused.

Cobbler laughed. "Aye lad I know, but if'in ye wants answers to questions ye don't even know, the task is always hard."

"I see," Shadow said. He somehow sensed these tasks were not so much as payment but preparation for what the old witch planned for him. He knew now that he was already in too deep to back out. "Well, since you would not have charged me with the task unless you had a way for me to accomplish it, I will ask you; do you have a device to read the data chip?"

Cobbler laughed. "Aye, Pie can helps ye out with that laddy" Come back to me when ye's ready.

Coming Soon chapter 17

Here we go again

"I started to sleep walk didn't I?" He said shivering. A voice behind him made him turn. There Cobbler sat looking sad.

"Aye laddy," she said. "Stopped ye before ye wandered off. Can ye tell us why ye wanted to go wandering?"

Maybe it had to do with the spell laid on him, but the words came out before he even knew what he wanted to say. Shutting his eyes tight he heard his voice say, "I had to destroy it. I had to wipe it out of existence."

He felt a hand under his chin, and pulled his head up. "Look at me lad," Cobbler's voice commanded. Somehow she still had control over some part of him, because he obeyed without question. He looked up for the first time seeing her sightless eyes without the rag covering them. He could tell that she couldn't see him, but the opaque silver white eyes still held power within them. He found he couldn't look away from her. "What did ye want to destroy? Ye needs to understand it." She demanded of him.

Shadow couldn't keep the word from coming out of his mouth. "Me," he said.


	17. Chapter 17

In Cosmo's Shadow

By Kellie Fay

Disclaimer: Sonic, Shadow, Tails, Cosmo, and the others all belong to SEGA, Team Sonic, 4 Kids and other people not me

*special wave to Kirai-Ninja and Thiniking man's radish for reviewing! *

Chapter 17

Here we go again.

Pie helped him find a computer outside the garden to read the chip. Just as before it made his stomach queasy and his head hurt to think about the things the professor did to him.

One thing he did learn was that Rouge's original data on him was off. He was the original Shadow. The government did find him, but because they needed to put him in suspension they threatened the professor with destroying him if he didn't contain Shadow. Therein lay the professors plan for revenge. Shadow couldn't recall this at all no matter how hard he tried, but the professor managed to coax Shadow into the suspension pod and sealed it. Then he began his plot for revenge. He used a device on the suspension pod that constantly sent the instructions into his sleeping mind. He would deceive the one who chose to release him, he would find the seven Chaos Emeralds, he would get them into the eclipse cannon on the Ark and he would not care if the entire world would be destroyed.

_Over and over again for fifty years that machine poured its poison into my mind. It's amazing that Christopher Thorndike was able to abort it so easily._

One part of Shadow could only be impressed with the professor's meticulous attention to detail. He tricked the soldiers into allowing him to monitor the pod for as long as he lived. He also managed to hack their computers so that he falsified the fact that he still existed. Even after his death he had measures put into place so that once he was gone; the memory of the Ultimate Life form would die with those who knew him aboard the ARK. _Little did he know one of those aboard the ARK would one day be the commander of GUN_.

On the other hand it made Shadow sick to his stomach to think about what his 'father' did to him. He could clearly see the professor's mind deteriorate from week to week. At first the professor still made references to "Shadow my son," but eventually for some reason he became once again "Project Shadow." _It was like his sanity slipped from him bit by bit until the professor I knew was gone, and all was left was his desire for revenge. In a sense his mind died before his body, leaving only his intellect and his rage._

He closed his eyes and rested his head in his hands. "It is difficult reading," Pie said, coming close. She began rubbing his shoulders in a way that automatically made him think of Rouge.

Shadow sighed, and turned off the computer. "It is not easy to learn about how the man you considered to be your father basically lost his mind, and chose to take you with him. In the end I only became his tool for destruction."

"But that is not what you are," Pie argued. No one not your soul's father, nor your friends, can tell you who you are. You must decide for yourself who you will be and move forward to make it true.

"Run forward and not back?" He said with a smile. "It's interesting in the dream I had last night about my friends they said something similar. I've been running away from something, and I need to run toward it and challenge it head on. I only wish I knew what the challenge was."

Pie rested her cheek on top of Shadow's a moment in comfort before she said. "Grandmother needs you to come inside before you sleep. She cannot protect you if you are outside of her influence."

Shadow nodded, gently dislodging Pie from his head. "I am just about finished with both the journal and the data chip. I doubt I will learn anything more. He closed his eyes and shivered internally. "I still don't remember much after the professor sealed me in the suspension capsule. I know I was cruel to others. I know I almost destroyed an entire planet full of people, but I close my eyes and I can't see any of it."

"Maybe it is because those actions were based on the programing this human inflicted upon you. It was never truly a part of you, and when you were rescued by the other human your mind cast all that was false within you away."

Shadow looked at Pie surprised that she possessed such an insight, but he realized that her abilities allowed her to understand his mind. "Perhaps," he agreed. "Perhaps that is also why when I did wake I couldn't remember anything about my past until I went back to the world where I was created, and Black Doom awakened my true purpose within me."

Pie nodded and rubbed his shoulders again. "Come, it is high time you rested." She insisted.

Exhausted Shadow followed behind Pie crossing back into the chao garden. Already Shadow knew that his day and his night in the chao garden would not begin until tomorrow. This night would just to make sure he did not go wandering off in his sleep.

He didn't see Cobbler anywhere; he supposed she was in one of the ancient buildings within this pocket of existence. Pie gave him some blankets and pillows, and Shadow decided to sleep out under the stars. Peaches, Pie's little chao, for some reason decided to snuggle with Shadow. Instead of chasing the little creature away, he drew it into his arms, and fell fast asleep.

This night his dreams felt like a huge thunderstorm, turbulent, and violent. He hurt in some indescribable way. He could see himself aboard Space Colony ARK attacking and hurting Christopher Thorndike. He could somehow sense that his attitude at the time was one of destruction. He needed to destroy the planet below him. That was his purpose to destroy everyone and everything.

_No that's not who I am. That's not who I want to be._ He wanted to erase this horrible person who used to be him. He wanted to destroy him forever.

Suddenly a strong pulling pain shot up his arms and legs driving him to the ground. He felt his arms and legs pulled out of his control like someone had bound him during the night.

_Sorry lad,_ he heard the voice within his mind. _I can't have ye doing such things. Wakes up now lad. You'll feel better if ye just wake up. _

"Wake up Shadow," A cool calming voice said. He suddenly felt someone shaking his shoulders. He couldn't move his arms or legs, but he managed to open his eyes and realized that Pie was calling to him. She had him in her arms, and she was gently coaxing him to wake.

"P…Pie?" He asked. The young vixen nodded. He tried to sit up, buthe still felt thin tight wires binding his arms and legs. "Why can't I move?"

"Are you awake now Shadow?" Pie asked. Shadow nodded then suddenly felt a loosening of the wires around his arms and legs. They were still there, but the bindings felt like someone just untied him leaving the chords in their places. He shook his head, and took survey of his surroundings. He still sat on the same hill where he fell asleep that night. Trying to get his brain to start working again, he realized that somehow the spell Cobbler cast on him, paralyzed him before he could walk away from them.

"I started to sleep walk didn't I?" He said shivering. A voice behind him made him turn. There Cobbler sat looking sad.

"Aye laddy," she said. "Stopped ye before ye wandered off. Can ye tell us why ye wanted to go wandering?"

Maybe it had to do with the spell laid on him, but the words came out before he even knew what he wanted to say. Shutting his eyes tight he heard his voice say, "I had to destroy it. I had to wipe it out of existence."

He felt a hand under his chin, and pulled his head up. "Look at me lad," Cobbler's voice commanded. Somehow she still had control over some part of him, because he obeyed without question. He looked up for the first time seeing her sightless eyes without the rag covering them. He could tell that she couldn't see him, but the silver white eyes still held power within them. He found he couldn't look away from her. "What did ye want to destroy? Ye needs to understand it."

Shadow couldn't keep the word from coming out of his mouth. "Me," he said. Tears began forming in his eyes, and he couldn't make them stop.

Cobbler drew him into her arms, and rubbed his back while he cried his heart out. "Tis all right lad, tis all right." She crooned. "Don't let grief lead ye on the path to self-destruction. That's what ye tried to do each time someone shows ye kindness. Ye can't destroy the past of what ye was though. All ye can do is make things right now."

Shadow nodded and relaxed into the old kitsune's grip. She might look frail, but her arms were strong, and Shadow allowed his body to relax. He leaned on the strength of this sorcerous, falling back into a deep and mercifully dreamless sleep.

Coming Soon Chapter 18

Preparation:

"Grandmother thinks you did very well today," Pie told him. "When you are ready tomorrow she will send you on your vision quest."

"Is that what you call it?" Shadow asked. "What will happen?"

Pie shook her head and smiled. "I do not know, everyone's quest is different. Grandmother will open doorways for your soul to pass through. Even though your mind does not know what you need, one's soul always knows. You will find that which you seek."


	18. Chapter 18

In Cosmo's Shadow

By Kellie Fay

Disclaimer: Sonic, Shadow, Tails, Cosmo, and the others all belong to SEGA, Team Sonic, 4 Kids and other people not me

Yay! More Reviews! *waves to KGB* I'm glad you're enjoying the show. This chapter is a little short, but the next one will make up for that.

Chapter 18 Preparation

He woke late in the afternoon with the sun high overhead in this little universe. The moment he sat up he felt a pulling at his hands and feet. Not sure where Pie or her Grandmother were he called out into the air, "I am awake." Instantly the imagined wires around his wrists and ankles loosened. He nodded satisfied, and went to find some breakfast.

He found Cobbler feeding her chao with them surrounding her like puppies. Peaches instantly raced over to greet Shadow, who obliged the creature by scratching the back of its head. He knelt by Cobbler's side looking at the old woman whose eyes were once again bound by the red rag. "What shall I do now that I am here for a day and a night?" he asked.

Cobbler offered him some fruit which he accepted. "Ye needs to clear yer mind and yer heart before I can be opening doorways for ye," she said. "Just stay in the garden, and think on yer life. If ye wants to talk we'll listen, if you wants to be alone that's fine too. Just find a way for ye to move forwards with life not backwards. And don't' worry about finding a foundation for what yer thinking. That's what tomorrow is for."

"As you say," Shadow said. He moved away to a little hilly area in bright sunlight. He found a little sunny nook near a building. Putting the building to his back he sat down, and closed his eyes and tried to think of the things Cobbler wanted him to.

He started with the aborted sleepwalking incident that night. He opened his eyes and looked down at his writs puzzled that he couldn't feel the bindings on him unless they felt he needed to be controlled. Focusing on them made them tingle a bit, but as promised they were barely noticeable._ Would that I had the benefit of this spell before Sonic and Rouge would not have gotten hurt trying to stop me. _ Still Sonic and Rouge were both right. What Cobbler made him do last night was face what his subconscious wanted to do. _Am I self-destructive? I guess indirectly. I would push away anything and anyone who would be kind to me. I guess that's why I can't stand even a comforting touch._ Pie touched him, and for the first time he didn't automatically flinch away. Touch meant comfort to the others. Slowly now on his own he could begin to understand the actions of the others.

_Maybe this is why Cobbler wants me to sit here and think. Maybe I need to sort out all this. _Shadow closed his eyes and continued to analyze his thoughts, motivations, and feelings.

Only when the sun faded from the sky, and the air turned cooler did Shadow opened his eyes and noticed how late it was.

"How do you feel Shadow?" Pie said coming closer to him with Peaches at her side. She knelt down next to him and offered him a wooden plate with food on it.

"Strangely empty," Shadow admitted trying to feel his emotions out. He accepted the food from Pie, and pet Peaches when the chao came to greet him. "There is plenty of food and shelter here, all physical wants are taken care of, and most of the chao put forth such simple emotions of contentment. It would be very easy to lose myself in this little paradise, and forget my past."

"Perhaps," Pie said, "But Grandmother thinks you are a warrior, you have a need to be doing things. You might lose yourself for a little while, but those on the outside would call to you until you answered."

"Perhaps," Shadow agreed. He usually didn't feel tired, but sitting for the day in this dream like setting settled a lethargy on him, and he surprised himself by yawning.

"Grandmother thinks you did very well today," Pie told him. "Tomorrow she will send you on your vision quest."

"Is that what you call it?" Shadow asked. "What will happen?"

Pie shook her head and smiled. "I do not know, everyone's quest is different. Grandmother will open doorways for your soul to pass through. Even though your mind does not know what you need one's soul always knows. You will find that which you seek."

Shadow couldn't quiet puzzle out what Pie meant by all that, but he accepted it. Laying down again that night he wondered exactly what would happen to him the next day.

Coming Soon chapter 19

Into the unknown

"Good good," Cobbler said, "now lad, keep your eyes on the gem. Don't think about anything. Just relax and watch the stone. Let me do all the work."

Shadow nodded, and fixed his eyes on the slightly glowing blue gem. Cobbler lowered her head also gazing at the chaos emerald before them. Slowly the emerald began to turn like a top. After a minute Shadow found that he could not look away from the spinning whirling gem. His body felt rooted to the spot. All he could do is look at the stone before him. After a while he felt the heaviness in his limbs move to his head. He found it hard to keep his head up, or his eyes open. Finally his head dropped to his chest and his eyes fell shut.

He struggled to open his eyes, and when he did so he found himself in a different world.


	19. Chapter 19

In Cosmo's Shadow

By Kellie Fay

Disclaimer: Sonic, Shadow, Tails, Cosmo, and the others all belong to SEGA, Team Sonic, 4 Kids and other people not me

I made it to 10 Reviews thanks to Thinking Man's Radish! Geeze in my Ninja Turtle and Danny Phantom stuff I get more than that for a 20 chapter story. and this thing is going to have more than 20 chapters. we're just getting to the good part.

Chapter 19

Into the Unknown

He woke early the next morning surprised that no dreams troubled his sleep. Pie gave him bread, cheese and fruit for breakfast, and then left him in front of Cobbler. No longer in ordinary clothing, the blind kitsune now sported a blue linin gown with gold jewelry. Even Pie wore something similar. Instead of her normal wooden stick, Cobbler had across her lap a staff of gold with a white stone adorning the top.

He sat down in front of her wondering what she was going to do. "Now take that sparkly of yours and place it here between us." She instructed. Shadow complied taking the sky blue chaos emerald and placing it on the floor between them.

"Good good," Cobbler said, "now lad, keep your eyes on the gem. Don't think about anything. Just relax and watch the stone. Let me do all the work."

Shadow nodded, and fixed his eyes on the slightly glowing blue gem. Cobbler lowered her head also gazing at the chaos emerald before them. Slowly the emerald began to turn like a top. After a minute Shadow found that he could not look away from the spinning whirling gem. His body felt rooted to the spot. All he could do is look at the stone before him. After a while he felt the heaviness in his limbs move to his head. He found it hard to keep his head up, or his eyes open. Finally his head dropped to his chest and his eyes fell shut.

He struggled to open his eyes, and when he did so he found himself in a different world.

The field reminded him strongly of the chao garden, but there were no trees around anywhere. There didn't seem to be any water either. All he could see was bright green grass, and wildflowers. Shadow rose to his feet wondering if he fell into a dream, but all of his dreams were always nightmares. The place seemed peacefully enough, but terribly lonely.

He began walking through the field, wondering what he was supposed to be doing here, when several yards away he spotted a human girl, in a sky blue dress, sitting in the field. Something tingled in the back of his mind, but he ignored it for the moment. He drew a little closer then noticed the girl's golden hair. When she turned and graced him with her brilliant smile, he knew. Over fifty years of pain and heartache fell away in seconds. Without a word he raced over to Maria, threw his arms around her, and cried into her shoulder.

"Oh Shadow," Maria said shedding a few tears herself, "I've wanted to hold you so badly for so long. I am so so proud of you."

"Proud of me? I don't understand." Shadow said. He didn't care to understand at the moment. All he could concentrate on was being with his best friend. He sniffed and tried to rub the tears away from his eyes.

Maria laughed and kissed the top of his head. "You've been so strong and so brave. I was so afraid that Black Doom would corrupt you. I was ever so glad when your friend Sonic came to protect you."

Shadow at first felt Shame that Maria knew all about Black Doom, but something else she said caught his attention. "Sonic came to protect me?"

Maria nodded. "Your friend the tree knew. She told Sonic, and they found a way to find you."

Shadow didn't understand. "Why did they choose to save me? I didn't cause them anything but trouble. I fought against them. I almost killed them both."

"They both forgave you for that long ago, Shadow," Maria said gently. Sonic wants to be your friend very much. He understands what it is like to be different, but you need to ask their forgiveness."

Shadow felt very confused. "Maria, how much do you know about what has happened to me? How is it that I'm here with you now?"

"I'm here because the fox lady opened the doorway, and of course I know everything that has happened to you. I have watched you ever since grandfather and the soldiers locked you up in suspension. How could I not watch for you?"

Shadow lowered his head in shame, and tried to pull away from her. Maria knew everything then. She knew how he almost destroyed the earth. She knew how he mercilessly hunted down Cosmo. She knew that at one point he seriously considered Black Doom's offer, and she knew that he almost forgot her when he woke up with her cousin in space.

Maria laughed and drew him into another deep hug. "You were always so silly, Shadow. You couldn't help any of that. You were sick and hurting most of that time. Grandfather and that strange alien had you all confused, and you didn't understand how to deal with Cosmo. She didn't blame you. At times she agreed with you. She forgave you for that long ago. You just have to forgive yourself. "

Shadow accepted the hug, but looked up at his best friend puzzled. "Maria, you know what I'm thinking?"

"A little," she admitted. "I always know when you're thinking of me, or when your memories frightened you. I kept trying to tell you that you were all right, and I still loved you, but you couldn't always hear me." For a moment the hug tightened. "I will always love you."

Somehow Shadow felt that his time here was coming to an end. "I don't want to go," Shadow said holding on to Maria tighter.

Maria sighed, but for the moment she let him cling. "You know you can't stay. You have to go and live life. Don't worry about me. I'll always be with you. Any time you miss me, go into that lovely little room you made for me. You'll know I'm with you. You'll feel it."

Shadow nodded, not understanding fully, but accepting what Maria told him.

"Shadow, I need to ask you to do something for me," Maria said after a moment of silence. "You may not want to do it,"

Shadow shook his head smiling. "I would do anything for you," he assured her.

Maria smiled and nodded. "I need you to forgive, Grandfather for all the dreadful things he did to you. He really didn't mean to, and he was really very ill when he hurt you. Please forgive him. If you do he can come and be with me."

At first Shadow didn't want to forgive The Professor, but listening to Maria he remembered how kind he used to be before GUN attacked. He wished he could understand why the professor altered his memories, but then he remembered how he lashed out at others for no reason. If he didn't forgive the professor what reason did Tails, Cosmo, or Sonic have for forgiving him?

Shadow took in a deep breath, and took all those angry feelings he harbored for the professor, and put them behind him. "Very well, Maria, because you asked me to, I will forgive your grandfather for the wrongs he did to me."

Maria smiled, and kissed the top of his head again. "Thank you my friend. One day you will have to forgive him again, but that can wait for another day."

Shadow didn't understand, but he nodded anyway. Finally she took his hands, and pushed him slightly away from her body looking him over. Shadow knew his time here was almost over. Maria smiled at him, and said, "never never forget, Shadow, I will always be with you. Whenever you feel that you are all alone in the world, stop and listen. You'll hear me. I promise."

Shadow nodded bowing his head. A strange feeling of peace fell over him. He simply sat there for a few moments reveling in this unknown emotion. When he lifted his head and opened his eyes again only the old vixen sat before him. The chaos emerald sat between them looking deceptively like an ordinary stone.

The tears started before Shadow knew what happened. For a full ten minutes he cried, not even able to explain what he felt that made the tears inevitable. Pie's grandmother guided Shadow to a pallet, and helped him lay down. "Tis all right lad," She told him gently. "You let it all out now. You'll feel better in the morning."

Coming Soon Chapter 20

Reflection

_So what do you want to do Shadow_? He asked himself. Contemplating the question felt a little daunting. He felt rather small looking out at the wide open spaces of the world.

You are not alone. I am with you.

The early morning breeze laughed and played with his quills, somehow drawing a smile from him. His year of wandering taught him much, but at the moment Shadow felt the need to emulate Cosmo, and find a place to put down roots and feel secure.

He wanted to go home.


	20. Chapter 20

In Cosmo's Shadow

By Kellie Fay

Disclaimer: Sonic, Shadow, Tails, Cosmo, and the others all belong to SEGA, Team Sonic, 4 Kids and other people not me

No comments for Shadow's experience? *sigh* Please Review!

Chapter 20

Reflection

Shadow must have fallen asleep because the next thing he knew stars littered the blue black sky, and the gentle rhythm of the waterfall was the only sound he heard. Somehow while he napped Peaches found a way to snuggle with him. Smiling in amusement Shadow made sure to cover the little chao with the blanket that covered his own shoulders. He rose to his feet and walked over to the chao pool, and washed his face.

Shadow tried to assess how he felt, but in truth he didn't know. He knew that some burden or internal pain had lifted from him. For the first time in a very long time he felt free. Following some internal compulsion Shadow left the chao garden, and climbed to the top of the abandoned building. The sky above him now held clouds and fumes, but this peculiar feeling of freedom did not leave him.

In fact he felt the reverse. Looking out to the distant horizon made him realize that this whole world lay before him. He could do anything, and go anywhere. Nothing held him back anymore.

_So what do you want to do Shadow_? He asked himself. Contemplating the question felt a little daunting. He felt rather small looking out at the wide open spaces of the world.

_You are not alone. I am with you._

The early morning breeze laughed and played with his quills, somehow drawing a smile from him. His year of wandering taught him much, but at the moment Shadow felt the need to emulate Cosmo, and find a place to put down roots and feel secure.

He wanted to go home.

_I treated the others horribly. They won't want me._

_Nonsense, they will forgive you. They already have._

_I'm still afraid. _

_They want you to come home. _

For a split second the vast distance between him and Sonic didn't exist. He felt Sonic like a presence in the back of his mind. He closed his eyes, and could almost see Sonic lounging in a large oak tree, wide awake despite the early hour, watching Tails curled up for some strange reason under Cosmo's tree. Shadow felt Sonic's surprise. Somehow Shadow knew that Sonic could feel his presence just as he felt Sonic's. Then he heard a pleased mental chuckle. _Any time you want to come home Shadow_, the thought whispered directly into his mind, _we'll wait for you._

Shadow's eyes snapped open causing the vision to fade. Did he imagine that, or did he have some kind of connection to Sonic for a few seconds?

"You felt something?" Shadow didn't expect the voice, and spun around prepared to attack only to see Pie, and Peaches climbing up to join him.

"How did I do that?" Shadow asked. "Did I just imagine hearing someone else's thoughts?"

Pie shook her head. "Sometimes that happens when grandmother sends someone on a vision quest, when they come back sometimes talents that were suppressed before wake up. What did you see?"

Shadow debated what to say. "I was thinking about where I wanted to go next, and I felt someone I know who's far away, but it felt like he stood here next to me. He told me I could come home."

"Were you afraid to go home before?" Pie asked. Shadow nodded. "Because you were mean to them?" Again Shadow nodded. "Yet you just heard him tell you to come home. All those horrible things you said and did obviously didn't matter that much. They forgave you."

Shadow didn't think he deserved to be forgiven, but he realized that when he made the conscious decision to forgive The Professor a stress he didn't understand faded away.

""What do _you_ want Shadow? Where do _you_ think you're going to be happy?" Pie asked.

Shadow saw a bright green flash on the horizon just before the fiery red rim of the sun began its assent into the sky. The Green Hill Zone lay about a two or three day run from here.

"I want to go home."

Coming Soon

Chapter 21

The Return

He went inside his private room. Someone not only kept this room clean, but on the table rested a beautiful little crystal vase with three star flowers inside. Not only that, but there appeared to be additions to the room. Shadow saw bright floral blue curtains on the window. A plush bear, and puppy lay on the bed, and under the vase, which did not belong to Shadow rested a little pink lace tablecloth.


	21. Chapter 21

In Cosmo's Shadow

By Kellie Fay

Disclaimer: Sonic, Shadow, Tails, Cosmo, and the others all belong to SEGA, Team Sonic, 4 Kids and other people not me

Please Please Please Review! I'm feeling lonely again!

Chapter 21

The Return

The front door opened easily without squeaking. That surprised Shadow. After an entire year the door joints should be rusty and creaking. Slowly Shadow finished opening the door, and peered inside. "Is there anyone here?"

Silence answered him so he went in. Like the door the room looked clean, like someone lived there. Someone swept the floor, had the bed made neat, and a vase of fresh Daisies graced his table.

The flowers made Shadow wonder who kept the place neat? He turned to the private room where he placed things for Maria. Did someone dare to go in there?

_Even if they did so, you have no right to complain. _He told himself._ You haven't been here for over a year. If someone has moved in they will have the right to throw you out._

He went inside his private room. Someone not only kept this room clean, but on the table rested a beautiful little crystal vase with three star flowers inside. Not only that, but there appeared to be additions to the room. Shadow saw bright floral blue curtains on the window. A plush bear, and puppy lay on the bed, and under the vase, which did not belong to Shadow rested a little pink lace tablecloth.

Shadow sighed again someone came into Maria's room, and most likely used it. He wanted to be angry about it, but he knew he had no right to be.

He waited for a few hours wondering who came to live here, but no one showed up.

Just before the sun set he heard someone on the front porch. When no one opened the door Shadow went outside, and found a basket on his porch. Underneath the towel covering the basket Shadow found a casserole dish with a vegetable pie a bottle of iced tea three cup cakes and five star Fruits.

He also found a card made on blue paper that said in simple block print, _good to have you back Shads, enjoy dinner. S_

Obviously someone knew he returned to green hill zone. Considering the note Shadow had a good idea of who knew. Still curious Shadow took a peek around the corner. By the window three small saplings just reached past the window small pink and red flowers threatening to bloom.

Shadow sighed. "You may tell Sonic while I do appreciate the meal, I would prefer to wait a few days to announce my arrival."

Pure delighted girlish laughter answered him. Smiling Shadow went inside, and ate his dinner. While he ate he wondered, if Sonic knew he had returned to Green Hill Valley who moved into his home?

_Or did no one move in, and they fixed it up for me, but why then would they go into Maria's room? They know how I feel about her._

Shadow went back into Maria's room, and looked at the new additions. They did seem to fit here. He decided not to be cross about it until he found out who, and why they came into the room, and then would decide if he should be angry about it.

The next day Shadow woke up very early in morning, and raced to the village. He wanted to make his apologies subtly. He quietly slipped inside Tails' workshop. The little kit while meticulous when building machines, when dismantling machines that gave the ultimate sacrifice, he couldn't seem to sort as he went.

Shadow sorted all the parts by size, moving the larger pieces to their proper places. He also swept the place spotless, and managed to slip out without the little kitsune finding out.

For three days Shadow would slip into Tails' workshop or Amy's home, and do chores that they were unable to do. On day four when he walked out onto his front porch he saw Sonic sitting in a chair his customary way, leaning on the two back legs, with his feet on the porch railing.

"Morning Shads," Sonic said brightly, just like he always did. It didn't appear to bother Sonic that he vanished for the better part of a year.

Not sure what Sonic wanted, Shadow greeted him cautiously. "Good morning,"

Without even opening his eyes Sonic said, "If you plan on playing helpful brownie again this morning don't bother with Amy's house. It's starting to freak her out a little that someone is sneaking into the house when she sleeps."

Okay the warning made sense, yet Shadow knew Sonic better than that. The stubborn blue busybody was fishing for something; information perhaps, or that need Sonic had to help others made him think Shadow needed him.

Shadow now could recall that impulse programed into him that compelled him to want to hurt others. He wondered what it felt like to be compelled to want to help others.

"How's Cobbler holding up?" Sonic suddenly asked, opening his eyes

"She is well," Shadow said deciding on a neutral approach.

"She's eating all right and everything?" Sonic asked sounding genuinely concerned. "I worry about her a little. She's getting old, and she never leaves the garden anymore."

"Pie and the chao are taking good care of her." Shadow reassured him, and felt rewarded when Sonic relaxed slightly.

"So when are you going to make your big grand entrance back in the village?" Sonic asked.

Shadow sighed. "I do not know. I am reluctant to showing myself to the others after so long."

Sonic nodded in agreement. "Take it from one who pulls vanishing acts a lot for whatever reason, just show up one day. No reason no explanation, like they should take it as a given you're back. Tell you what, I'll help you out. Day after tomorrow is Knuckles birthday, and we want to surprise him with a party up on Angel Island. We're meeting over at Amy's house tomorrow after lunch. I'll make sure the door is unlocked, just show up, and hang out in the background and I'll just say something to you randomly." Sonic chuckled. "They'll be so shocked that I take it so smoothly they won't do anything less."

"If you think that is best," Shadow said. Privately Shadow thought Sonic had a good idea. That Sonic would simply accept Shadow's presence even after his year absence would help the others do the same.

"You'll see it will work like a dream," Sonic said with a big grin on his face.

Coming Soon:

Chapter 22

Not Apologies:

Finally Tails managed to find his voice. "Shadow?" Shadow simply nodded his usual greeting.

"When did you get back?" Rouge asked.

"Recently," Shadow said remembering something Sonic told him. _Keep them guessing about stuff. If you keep them off balance they might forget to be nervy around you._

Cream couldn't resist. The little rabbit launched herself into Shadow's arms. He caught her almost absently. "Shadow! I'm so glad you decided to come home. I've been taking good care of your home while you were away."

"So you were the one redecorating. I wondered," Shadow said.


	22. Chapter 22

In Cosmo's Shadow

By Kellie Fay

Disclaimer: Sonic, Shadow, Tails, Cosmo, and the others all belong to SEGA, Team Sonic, 4 Kids and other people not me

Yay! 1000 hits, *sigh* only 10 reviews. Doesn't anyone have anything to say about Shadow's little adventures?

Chapter 22

Not Apologies

The next day Shadow came to Amy's house at the appointed time. Sonic kept his word, and the door was slightly ajar allowing Shadow to sneak into the house. Gingerly Shadow snuck over to the group, and saw the whole gang sans Knuckles in the back yard discussing the surprise party.

"You know how paranoid Knuckles is," Amy said. "How can we all get up there and set up a party without him knowing something is up?"

"I could distract him for an hour or two playing tag with the Master Emerald," Rouge said.

"I could transport everyone and all the stuff we need with the X Tornado," Tails suggested.

At that moment Cream noticed Shadow lurking in the back, and almost gave a squeal of glee. Quickly Shadow shook his head, and covered his lips with a finger indicating the girl should remain quiet. A mischievous look crossed the girl's face, and she nodded eagerly not making a sound.

"No good," Rouge told Tails "Even Knucklehead would notice that contraption flying around his Island even if he were chasing me."

"We could use Chaos Control," Sonic suggested.

Amy gave Sonic a skeptical look. "I don't know Sonic you only use Chaos control for emergencies. Are you good enough to Chaos Control us up there along with the Party supplies?"

With only a quick wink to warn him, Sonic said, "Well if Tails and I get to the island on our own, Shadow shouldn't have any problem teleporting you, Cream, Cheese and the party stuff up to the island." Then before anyone could react with shock at Sonic's statement he turned to Shadow and asked, "Right Shadow? You can transport the girls and the party stuff up to the island without any problems?"

Shadow didn't allow the shock to sink in either. "I'm surprised you asked me for so simple a thing, Sonic. I could transport three times that if you needed me too. "

The others were still staring at Shadow speechless. Sonic with the most evil look in his eye simply went on as if Shadow hadn't been away at all. "You haven't seen what Amy plans to bring yet pal."

Shadow couldn't help himself. Sonics giggle on behalf of his friends was infectious. "I'll take your warning under advisement," he said.

Finally Tails managed to find his voice. "Shadow?" Shadow simply nodded his usual greeting.

"When did you get back?" Rouge asked.

"Recently," Shadow said remembering something Sonic told him_. Keep them guessing about stuff. If you keep them off balance they might forget to be nervy around you._

Cream couldn't resist. The little rabbit launched herself into Shadow's arms, he caught her almost absently. "Shadow! I'm so glad you decided to come home. I've been taking good care of your home while you were away."

"So you were the one redecorating. I wondered," Shadow said. Now he took a mischievous pleasure in being cool about his arrival.

Amy and Rouge were looking at Shadow puzzled. "Well I guess that's settled then," Amy said.

Tails first approached Shadow when he and Sonic both joined him in his workshop after the meeting. The moment Sonic left the room the little kit looked at Shadow. "It was you whose been cleaning the hanger."

Shadow shrugged. "I felt I needed to," he said simply, and it appeared all was forgiven there.

With Amy it was a little harder.

"You know it's bad manners to sneak into someone's house like that," She complained.

"It would have been a lousy surprise if he hadn't," Sonic countered. Never one to let a friend down Sonic decided to help Shadow deal with the irate pink hedgehog.

"So why were you sneaking around my house like a criminal anyway?" Amy asked wryly.

"Amy," Sonic warned gently. Shadow noticed a slight crease between the blue hedgehog's eyes and a familiar tingling at the back of his head.

Keeping to his arrogant mask, Shadow said, "Sonic if she can't figure it out don't help her. She should at least be thanking me for showing that her home security needs to be upgraded."

"Harumph!" Amy snubbed him for the rest of the evening, but Shadow suspected that Sonic had silently lectured Amy on why he did so.

That evening before they parted company Sonic said, "I just want to warn you, Rouge kept up the tree house, at your place but she's been staying over by Knuckles at the one on Angel Island."

Shadow nodded, "is she angry with me because I left?" He asked

Sonic shook his head, and shrugged. "Honestly pal, I couldn't tell you. She's been keeping to herself a lot these past few months, and spends most of her time with Knuckles. You'll see her again at the party, but I don't have a clue how she's gonna greet you.

Shadow nodded. He didn't expect that everyone would accept him back the way Sonic did. When he arrived at his own home he again took careful note of the changes made to both his own part of the house and Maria's room. He noted to his amusement that Maria's room had far more changes than his own. Each change somehow fit in the room. Shadow wondered if possibly through Cheese or through Cosmo that Cream understood the nature of Maria's room, and tried to treat the room the way he would. Following some unknown impulse Shadow opened the window and leaned against the sill enjoying the night air.

Suddenly Shadow saw a bright light admits the trees. It only took a fraction of a second for Shadow to realize that the light came from Rouge's tree house. Instantly Shadow raced up the tree, but by that time the light vanished. Not one to be daunted by the lack of light or personal boundaries Shadow entered the tree house. Inside he saw that Rouge did keep the place neat and tidy. She had all number of shiny knickknacks scattered about, but that only gave the place a homey feel his own home lacked sans Maria's room. There didn't seem to be any indication that Rouge had been there, but when Shadow touched the kerosene lamp by the bed, he could tell by its warmth that she had.

_So she'll watch me, but she wants to avoid a confrontation. I suppose it can wait for the party. _With that Shadow went back to his own home, closed his window, and went to bed.

Coming Soon:

Chapter 23 Homecoming

"Was that the purpose of my trip, to have this sorcerous change me?" Shadow asked.

Sonic gave Shadow this knowing look. "You decided to go wandering Shadow. Nobody else made that decision, but you. Nobody told you what direction to go in either. You decided what to do that entire year you were on your own. I figured you wanted to be on your own, so we left you be."


	23. Chapter 23

In Cosmo's Shadow

By Kellie Fay

Disclaimer: Sonic, Shadow, Tails, Cosmo, and the others all belong to SEGA, Team Sonic, 4 Kids and other people not me

*waves to Kirai- Ninja* I'm so glad you got the idea of not-apologies. Heh that's Shadow for you.

Chapter 23

Homecoming

Shadow woke up early and joined Tails and Sonic gathering Amy's party stuff. He still felt awkward about acting like his year-long retreat didn't happen, but Sonic assured him that the more he acted normal, the more the others will accept his presence again.

He surveyed the pile of goods and looked back at the house where Amy was still packing. Why did they need all this stuff for just a party?

"Having doubts about how much you can carry Shadow?" Sonic asked with a mischievous grin?

"I managed to transport Egg-man's ship away from that black hole, didn't I?" Shadow countered. He didn't worry about Sonic's teasing. Somehow Shadow knew that Sonic just wanted to see how annoyed he could get Shadow, and make conversation. Shadow decided to tolerate it.

"Yeah, I remember, but you had all seven emeralds then." Sonic said cheerfully.

"I'll be fine, as long as Amy doesn't decide to quadruple the load," Shadow said.

From back in the kitchen both hedgehogs heard Amy call out, "I heard that!"

"Good, because I meant it," Shadow said. Sonic giggled.

"If that's Sonic laughing, tell him to get over here and help me haul this stuff out." Amy called again.

Sonic gave Shadow a grin, then raced into the house, and came back to the hanger with a large cooler. A few minutes later Amy came out with a similarly large cooler.

Shadow looked at the two coolers speculatively. "You can handle all that right?" Amy asked suddenly worried.

"With you and the rabbit? Not a problem," Shadow reassured her. "When should we go?"

"I'll check with Tails," Sonic said zipping off. Before either Shadow or Amy could start a hesitant conversation, Sonic reappeared. "Tails said that Rouge said give her twenty more minutes to distract Knuckles then you guys can CC up to the Island."

Shadow nodded, "Then you best get the girl so we can be ready." Shadow said.

"You don't have to worry, she's here," Amy said. Cream skipped into the hanger, and graced all three of them a hug. Amy gave Shadow a strange look, but said nothing.

Sonic grinned at Shadow and said, "So give me and Tails a ten minute head start then zap you and the girls up to the island."

Shadow nodded. "There is a small cave just north of the Alter for the Master Emerald. I'll transport us all there."

"Gotcha," Sonic said. Over his shoulder he called, "Tails you ready?"

"Ready Sonic!" Tails called.

Sonic's grin grew wider. "See you on the Island guys!" With that Sonic sped away with Tails flying in his wake.

Shadow glanced at his watch, something he picked up in his travels, and began mentally counting down to when they needed to go.

"Here Shadow," Cream said handing Shadow a shiny black obsidian stone. "I found this pretty shiny rock this morning in the stream, and I thought you would like it for your special room."

Shadow bristled a little at the mention of Maria's room, but chose to not say anything. He had been gone for far too long to complain about people going in there, and for some reason Cream kept donating items for the room. He tucked the stone into his quills and said, "thank you, I will add it to the collection."

Amy glared at Shadow again, but again kept her tongue. In the back of Shadow's mind he could hear a young girl laughing, and realized that the nearby tree was Cosmo.

"That will be enough out of you," He said to the tree.

Now Amy said something. "Okay who are you, and what have you do with Shadow?"

Without blinking an eye Shadow answered, "That is a bad question to ask me before I use Chaos Control to send you elsewhere."

Amy sighed, but her expression did not change. "Good point," she said.

Shadow nodded. "Gather your things, it is time," he warned them. Amy and cream nodded and drew closer to Shadow. He took a deep breath, gathered his thoughts, and visualized the little cave near the Master Emerald. Once he had the image fixed in his mind he called out, "CHAOS CONTROL!" Instantly the three of them and all the goods reappeared in the cave.

"Wow that was exciting!" Cream said

Amy blinked a few times, looking a little dizzy. "Yeah, exciting," she said. She shook her head a little trying to orientate herself. She took a step away from Shadow and peeked out the cave entrance. "Perfect! We can set up here. Come on Cream! Let's get ready!"

Amy didn't exactly ask Shadow to help. Shadow suspected that the irritable pink hedgehog felt a little uncomfortable around him. He ignored her discomfort, and moved boxes, and coolers when he thought they needed the space. Cream didn't have any trouble asking Shadow for help. He ended up helping her twist streamers, and put out the food. The whole time Amy kept looking over her shoulder at Shadow but said nothing.

After twenty minutes Tails flew over to the three. "Rouge is going to lead Knuckles over here in about ten minutes so we have to be ready."

"We're ready," Amy said. "Where are Vector and the others?"

"Here we are!" Charmy's voice squeaked over the sound of the waterfall. He flew over to Cream and Tails instantly. Vector and Espio brought up the rear.

"Well well, look who it is! It's been a long time Shadow." Vector said.

Shadow bristled a little, but remembered what Sonic said about playing it cool. "Yes it has," he said simply, and turned away from the croc. He caught Espio giving him a quizzical look, but he simply glared at the chameleon, and he backed off. Charmy took one look at him, and hid behind Tails. Shadow didn't care what they thought. They'd eventually get used to him again.

A minute later Sonic came racing into the area. "Okay he's on his way, you guys ready?"

"All done!" Amy said proudly.

"Great!" Sonic answered. He caught Shadow's eye and nodded to back over his shoulder. Shadow caught the hint. He hid behind Sonic and waited with the others.

Just then Rouge came flying over a hill with the Master Emerald in a sling. She quickly placed it back on its alter and joined the others. Shadow couldn't help notice but Rouge planted herself on the other side of the group away from him. A moment later Knuckles followed behind cursing up a storm. He was so intent on the green gem in front of him he missed everyone standing off to the side. He just walked right by them muttering to himself. "Crazy bat, playing hide-and-seek with the Master Emerald, I tell you when I get my hands on her she'll-"

"She'll wish you a happy birthday! That's what she'll do," Rouge said with a giggle. Knuckles turned around his mouth open in shock, and everyone else joined in to the cheer.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY KNUCKLES!"

Knuckles, overtaken by the surprise at first, smiled and laughed. "Gee guys I didn't think you knew it was my birthday!"

"Of course we knew!" Amy said proudly.

Just then Knuckles noticed Shadow hiding behind Sonic. "Shadow? Now this is a surprise! When did you get back?"

"Recently," Shadow said.

To Shadow's surprise Knuckles glared at Sonic. "And I wonder where you got that line from." The red echidna muttered

Just when Shadow began to feel self-conscious about the attention, Sonic said, "So what are we standing around for? Let's get this party started!

Shadow decided to keep to the background of the party. He didn't quite belong yet, but he knew they accepted him, and that was good enough for now.

Amy came up next to him. "Still hiding?" She asked.

"I'm not hiding," Shadow insisted. "I'm observing, besides if someone wants to see me they can come to me."

"Right," Amy said not sounding very convinced. "I hope you're not upset with Cream about the stone, and her talking about your room. Sometimes she tells us things, and we don't have any idea how she knows them.

"I will keep that in mind," Shadow said simply.

Amy looked at him, a question clearly on her face. Finally she said. "I know you don't like to talk about that room of yours but would you mind telling me why Cream thought that a rock would be a good addition?"

Shadow sighed, but he went with his gut. "You were right the first time Amy, I don't like to talk about that room. It's private." With that he walked away from her.

Sonic found him next. "See you're still trying to make friends," he said with a smirk.

"She had no business asking," Shadow insisted, then turning to look at Sonic out of the corner of his eye added, "And neither do you."

Sonic laughed. "I'm not asking you anything. I'm just checking to see if you're all right. I'm kinda glad to see that Cobbler hasn't changed you too much."

"Was that the purpose of my trip, to have this sorcerous change me?" Shadow asked.

Sonic gave Shadow this knowing look. "You decided to go wandering, Shadow. Nobody else made that decision, but you. Nobody told you what direction to go in either. You decided what to do that entire year you were on your own. I figured you wanted to be on your own, so we left you be."

"Except for the chao," Shadow said, not resisting the smirk that came over his face.

Sonic shook his, head and held his hands up in surrender. "Not my idea," He insisted. "I'm not even sure whether it was Cream or Cheese who thought of it, but yeah, she told me that Cheese had a way of asking other chao where you were. She thought you needed someone watching out for you. They kept us up on all your adventures."

Shadow expected more than that. "And?" he prompted.

Sonic just flashed that enigmatic grin. "Like you said before it's not anybody's business but yours, unless you want to talk about it."

Shadow didn't like talking to the others about stuff, but he remembered that talking to Pie often left him feeling rather good. It felt like the emotions tied to the events could finally leave him, and not end up a knot in his stomach. "Maybe in a week or so," he said softly watching Cream, Cheese, Tails, and Charmy play a game of aerial tag. "Not yet. I still need to think about it."

"Whatever you want, Shadow." Sonic said joining Shadow in watching the flyers.

To his surprise later Knuckles came by with two Star Fruits in his hands. He offered one to Shadow. "Here," he said, "Before Sonic, Vector, and the other chow hounds inhale them all; I figured I'd snag you one. I haven't seen you eat anything yet today."

Shadow did eat breakfast, but it was close to evening now, so he accepted the fruit and tossed the seeds allowing them to grow wherever they fell. He'd forgotten how good they tasted, and surprised himself by making it disappear in two bites.

"So why did you leave?" Knuckles asked once Shadow swallowed the fruit.

Shadow didn't quite know how to answer that. He didn't even know why he left himself. He originally planned to tell others that he didn't have to explain anything, but Knuckle's question, even though plain and simple, had the feeling of a test to him, so he stuck with Sonic's style of keeping everything as simple as possible. "I needed to look for something," he said.

Knuckles gave him a puzzled look, but only asked him, "So why did you come back?"

Now Shadow knew that Knuckles was testing him, but he didn't know if he could pass this test. "I found it."

Now Knuckles gave a slight smirk, "You know you're starting to sound like Sonic," He says.

Normally that would have gotten a rise out of Shadow, but he could tell Knuckles was trying to get him to react. "If you say so," he said with a shrug.

Now Knuckles got annoyed. "Now I know Sonic is coaching you!"

Now Shadow felt a flow of satisfaction. Knuckles was now the one put off guard. Deciding to twist the screws a little more, he said. "Sonic is over there with Amy and Tails, he's not telling me what to say."

Knuckles sighed and gave up. "I just wanted to make sure you're not going to vanish again soon." He said, "she missed you."

Now Shadow understood. Rouge still had not spoken to him, since he appeared at Amy's house. He knew she watched him, but she did not approach him directly. "Is she angry with me?" He asked.

"You know Rouge," Knuckles said. "She never lets you know what she's thinking, but Sonic would catch her staring at your house for like hours."

Shadow didn't know what to think of that. "Rouge had nothing to do with why I left," he said.

"You might want to tell her that," Knuckles advised. "In fact tell her everything. Maybe that will get you back in her good graces again."

Several more hours passed by, before Shadow saw Rouge. She was looking at the three youngest all dozing near the bonfire, Charmy and Cream both using Tail's namesakes as blankets. He didn't mean to get wistful, but he sighed, waking Cream's little chao. To Shadow's surprise Cheese flew up to face Shadow and looked at him quizzically trying to figure out his mood.

"May your mistress never lose her innocence," he said showing the chao the obsidian stone she gave him earlier. "And I am sure I don't need to ask you to do everything in your power to keep her that way."

Sure enough the little creature chirped happily and proudly. Shadow had the impression that the chao accepted the complement and the responsibility.

Shadow didn't resist and gave the little creature a comfortable scratching on his back. "And one of these days, you and I are going have a long talk about exactly what you and your fellows were doing spying on me, or was that your mistress' idea?" He asked.

Cheese laughed at him, and again the empathic little creature sent to him that they both decided he needed guardian angels, but he would gladly take responsibility if it meant keeping Cream from his ire."

Like always hearing a chao's thoughts made it hard to keep a smile from Shadow's face. "Fine, I'll blame you then," he said, "Now go care for your mistress."

Cheese nodded, and with a happy chirp, snuggled back into Cream's arms. Just then Shadow heard a voice say, "You're blaming him for what?"

Shadow made a half turn and saw Rouge out of the corner of his eye. Turning back to the sleeping mass of children in front of him Shadow said, "Chao are unusual creatures. They have some sort of a hive mind. Cheese made sure that his fellows far and away watched out for me, and reported my activities back to him."

"They did?" Rouge sounded surprised. "No wonder Sonic seemed to know where you were all the time. He kept talking us out of going after you."

"I'm glad he did so," Shadow said trying to make it sound less like an insult. "I…I needed to be by myself for a while. I needed to know I made my own decisions. I needed to find out the truth for myself, far away where I couldn't hurt anyone else."

"The truth?" Rouge asked puzzled.

Shadow sighed. "That I didn't really want to remember what I did when Doctor Egg-man first awakened me on Earth, that I didn't want to face that I had hurt others for the pleasure of hurting, that someone I cared for and respected as a parent used me as a living weapon of mass destruction."

Rough sighed and wrapped her arms around Shadow. He still flinched a little at the comforting touch, but at the same time he felt amazed that she could forgive him, and empathize with him so easily after all this time. "That sounds like a lot of stuff you had to do." She said gently.

Shadow nodded. "I also felt the need to get away from a certain hyperactive busybody of a hedgehog, and a tree who could see everything wrong with me."

"I knew we should have told you about Cosmo when you first got here." She said tightening her grip slightly. "Knuckles said it wouldn't make sense to you if you couldn't hear her, and Amy was worried that you still wanted to hurt Cosmo."

"The Metarex are gone," Shadow said, "She can't even see or hear except through others. My reasons for hunting her are actually gone."

"Good," Rouge said. "She's not a bad kid, for a tree."

Suddenly an unusual spark of curiosity hit Shadow. "How did Tails finally take it? I can't imagine after the scene I made, they could keep her quiet any longer."

Rouge shrugged. "He was a little hurt," she admitted. "He had a lot of long conversations, with Sonic, Amy, and even Cream. He's accepted it, but he's still a little upset by it."

"Upset at the others? Or upset that the girl is a tree?" Shadow asked.

"He wasn't mad at the others for more than a week," Rouge told him. "He's just upset that he can't do anything for Cosmo. She's told him she's fine with how things turned out, but he still has trouble hearing her. He spends a lot of time outside with her. Sonic thinks that's a good thing. It gets him out of the workshop."

Shadow remembered that Tails did spend a lot of time in the workshop trying to use work to stop thinking about how much he missed the girl. He privately agreed with Sonic. If Cosmo could get Tails to spend time outside even if he couldn't hear her properly it would be enough.

"I am glad my departure did not cause too much trouble," he said heaving out the tension with a sigh.

"Oh it caused trouble," Rouge said with a smile. "I wasn't happy for one thing, and Sonic felt a little guilty for a while, but we kind of understood that you were going through a hard time. Did being on your own help?"

Shadow thought about that. "It helped that no one pressured me any longer. It helped that I could make my own choices, but I did miss being where others would accept me. On my own I was always the stranger, no one really understood me. Here even if they didn't understand, they would attribute it to my issues, and leave me be."

"Is that why you came back?" Rouge asked. "Because we would leave you be?"

Shadow sighed. He still wasn't sure why he came back, he just knew he had to make a new start here. "Rouge, I'm not sure why I left or why I came back. All I know is that I feel right now I need to be here."

"So in a way you're still searching for answers?" Rouge asked. When Shadow nodded she said, "Hon, that's what life's about. Every creature on this planet or any planet always wants to know who they are and why they are here. That's what living is for."

"I suppose," Shadow said. "You know you didn't have to worry about me while I was gone."

Rouge laughed. "I'm guessing that's your way of saying you're sorry you ran off on me." She rested her head on his shoulder. "It's all right I forgive you."

Shadow merely shrugged. He was not going to apologize for running off. If Rouge wanted to think he did, that was fine with him.

Much later, after everyone left the island, Shadow volunteered to carry a very sleepy Cream and Cheese home. Once in her mother's arms, Shadow felt compelled to look in on Sonic and Tails. He saw Sonic coming out of Tails' workshop, and only needed an inquiring glance to hear Sonic whisper. "He's still out cold, and having very nice dreams right now."

Shadow looked at Sonic warily. "I thought you could not hear thoughts that were not directed to you," he said, wondering if that had changed to in the past year.

"Don't have to," Sonic said shaking his head. He closed his eyes, and took a strange listening pose. "Can't you feel it?"

Puzzled Shadow tried to hear what Sonic thought he heard. He felt more than heard a pleasant hum, and the giggling of a young girl, and Tails. A warmth spread through his body, and his mind filled with images of a bright green field with Tails and Cosmo chatting under the branches of what seemed to be her tree.

"It's the tree," Shadow said realizing that the girl was sending Tails the dream.

Sonic opened his eyes, and nodded. "Tails still can't hear Cosmo speak in words, but he can pick up her feelings. And at night Cosmo gets into his dreams, and they talk there. He's getting used to it. I guess I'm glad it happened the way it did. Tails got used to the idea pretty fast, and he didn't worry about you reacting to her."

"I have nothing against the girl." Shadow insisted. "My reasons for hunting her died with the Metarex, and I bare no grudge for her stopping our disagreement before I left."

"And knowing you that's as close as you'll ever come to saying I'm sorry," Sonic said chuckling. Before Shadow could protest Sonic added. "It's okay, you were just reacting like when you were sleepwalking. you weren't thinking logically. I was just saying stuff you weren't ready to face yet. I forgive you." He then looked Shadow up and down, and said, "Just remember, you may think you're the ultimate life form, but nobody is perfect, not me, or Amy, or Tails, or Cosmo, or the guy who made you, and you're not perfect either."

It was a truth, a hard one, but a truth nevertheless. Shadow nodded, and bowed his head in shame.

"That's why we have friends," Sonic added philosophically. "Friends help when you make mistakes, and friends understand you, so they'll forgive you if you're wrong."

Shadow looked up at Cosmo's tree, and his thoughts turned to Maria. "All my friends are dead. I don't know if I should have more."

"We are your friends Shadow," Sonic insisted. "And I can't promise we won't die, but while we're around we can help you unwind, and have fun."

Shadow nodded. Sonic was right. He needed to stop running away from people, and accept friends once again. He pulled out the stone Cream gave him earlier. It instantly caught Sonic's attention. "Where did you get that?" Sonic asked him.

"Cream found it, and gave it to me," he said. "She thought I would like it for Maria's room."

Sonic's head snapped up, when he realized what Shadow said. Very gently Sonic asked. "That little side room, you made is for Maria?"

"I know she's gone," Shadow snapped. This felt painful, but Shadow felt this was the best apology he could ever give Sonic for how he acted before he left. "But I wanted a room for her anyway. I want to fill it with all the things she wanted to see and touch that she wasn't allowed to when she lived."

Sonic nodded. He put his hand on Shadow's shoulder. "You're a good friend to her Shadow. I'm sure she loves you very much."

Shadow gave Sonic the most puzzled look. Why did he speak of her in the present tense? Sonic chuckled, and then said, "What? I know you spent time with Cobbler. I know what she can do. I don't think you would have mellowed out unless she sent you on a vision quest, and if she did that, you know those who you loved aren't gone. They're just somewhere else. We can't see or hear them, but we can feel it if they're near. We just have to learn to listen. We don't lose friends when they die. When you love someone it's forever."

Shadow didn't know what to think. Sonic guessed very accurately what happened to him. "She…she said she's been watching me ever since I was locked away in suspension all those years ago."

"It's something to remember," Sonic told him confidently. "True friends are forever."

Shadow nodded looking at the sentient tree before him, feeling a tremendous burden lift from him. He did have friends again, and they would last forever.

Not quite the end. Epilogue 1 & 2 Coming Soon

Or did everyone forget that Shadow is immortal?


	24. Epilogue1

In Cosmo's Shadow

By Kellie Fay

Disclaimer: Sonic, Shadow, Tails, Cosmo, and the others all belong to SEGA, Team Sonic, 4 Kids and other people not me

Yes the story is winding down. I hope everyone enjoyed it. *waves to Kirai-Ninja*

Epilogue

[70 years later ]

The village didn't look much different from when Shadow lived closer. For the last several years he had decided to go wandering again. Not like the last time where he ran from his problems, but more like Sonic, just moving from place to place trying to find something to do. Now after several years he returned to Green Hill Valley, but he knew that this would be the last time.

The spirit of friendship might last forever, but bodies were only made of flesh, blood, and bone, and they wore out. Over the last decade, many of Shadow's friends had gown old and died. Too painful to bear, after Rouge passed away, Shadow felt traveling would help him deal with his loss better. It was only then that something Maria said during his vision quest made sense. She told him he would have to forgive the Professor a second time. And he did, After Sonic passed away, he forgave Professor Gerald for making him immortal and unaging.

"So you're back," A familiar voice said, cutting into his thoughts. Shadow turned to look at the young hedgehog facing him. His voice reminded Shadow all too much of his grandfather, but instead of blue he sported a dark maroon fur with purple tips to his quills.

"Hello Speed," Shadow said evenly. "You've grown,"

The hedgehog shrugged. "I've supposed you came to see Milana's father," he said.

"I've heard he's not well." Shadow said sadly, nodding.

Speed shrugged again, and glared at the ebony and crimson hedgehog. "What do you care, you haven't been here in years."

"And after this there will be no reason for me to come again," Shadow told him. "I can just become a dark story you can tell your children."

A female laugh turned and made Shadow smile. "If I tell my children that story I'll be telling them of a dark angel that will always protect them if they're good. Hello Shadow."

"Hello Milana," Shadow said, turning to face the five tailed kitsune. She had one fox cub in her arms, and another one at her feet.

"Now I know I've been away a long time," Shadow said looking at the two kits. "You've grown another tail, and look at these two."

Milana looked back at her tails and sighed. "I always feel guilty when someone notices. I feel bad for Dad."

"Your father is probably very proud that you've grown into both a fine mechanic and sorcerous." Shadow said. Then he couldn't resist and looked down at the older kit at her skirts. He knelt down to be at eye level to the child. "Hello little one, I remember when your grandfather was not much taller than you are."

The kit looked at Shadow, and furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. "You don't look old," he said wiggling his three tails in confusion.

"I just age well," Shadow said rising to his feet.

"You don't age at all," Speed said, glaring at Shadow again.

"Speed, it's not his fault." Milana said sharply.

Shadow sighed and ignored the angry young hedgehog. From the little bits and stories Shadow had heard while traveling the youngster was going through a rebellious stage. "Is your father well enough to see me?" He asked the vixen instead.

Milana smiled. "Don't ask me how, but he knew you were coming."

Shadow followed Milana to an old building that looked like a workshop. There in a small room to the side rested a bed, and inside a grey fox with orange coloring the edges of his two tails slept peacefully.

"Father," Milana said gently. "Shadow is here to see you."

Instantly the old fox opened his eyes and smiled. "He told me you were coming," He said warmly.

Shadow's heart twisted inside of him, but he managed a smile taking the hand of his old friend. "Hello Tails, you're looking well."

Ever honest the fox said, "No I'm not. I've lost nearly all my color, I can't fly, I can't even go to my workshop anymore. Now I know what Sonic meant when he said he felt like a prisoner in his own body. I dreamed of him last night. He said I'd feel better real soon."

Shadow nodded. "If Sonic said it, then I am sure it will be true," he said.

Tails nodded slightly. "He….he told me to tell you to stop moping around and make some new friends too."

This time Shadow shook his head no. "No more friends, Tails. When it was Maria it was easier to deal with. She was murdered still young, but Sonic, Amy, Rouge, Knuckles, You. I can't stand watching you grow old, knowing you are going to die, and I'm going to be alone again."

"But Milana is still here," Tails argued, "And Lightning, with Speed, and Velocity, And-"

"And Cinnamon, and all her bunnies," Shadow finished for him, "And I cannot bare the idea of all of them growing old and dying either. It is enough that I've taken up Sonic's cause. I will protect everyone I see from evil, but I do not dare to make any more friends. My mind is made up."

The old fox sighed from the bed. "All right, I know better than to argue with you, but don't go all hermit on them either. Sonic said if you do that he'll find a way to come back, and knock you silly."

"Don't you worry about what I'm going to do," Shadow told him. "When you see our friend again you'll both be far too busy watching out for Speed to worry about me."

"Sonic wants you to watch out for Speed too," Tails said with a grin. "He knows you won't say no to him."

"Perhaps," Shadow told him. "Now you're very tired Tails. I'll leave you to your rest."

"Goodbye Shadow."

"Good by old friend."

Shadow watched the sun setting on a hill overlooking where the home of the once famous Sonic the Hedgehog once lived. Shadow couldn't help but laugh at himself. In his time Sonic seemed to be so simple and only now by examining his home and life long after his death did he understand how complicated Sonic The Hedgehog truly was.

_It's just you and me now,_ Shadow thought to the Star Tree not too far away. Cosmo had been getting very sleepy the last twenty years, and the only responses that anyone got from her were mostly empathic. Today however she roused herself from her doze and graced Shadow with companionship.

_I am sorry Shadow. I can still feel and reach the others, but I cannot tell you how to do so._ She told him. When Amy had died, Sonic had been beside himself with greif until Cosmo told him that she could still feel Amy, and that Amy wanted him to continue to live his life to the fullest. When Sonic passed she sent messages to both Shadow, and Tails. She could pass messages, but there was no way for Shadow to hear or see the others except in his dreams.

_Everyone is together?_ He asked silently.

_Yes, and they all want me to tell you that they love you and are with you. You are never truly alone._ She answered wrapping him in the mental warmth that served as her hug.

_I may not be alone,_ he told her, _but they are not here, and sometimes that matters._

All Cosmo could do was send a wordless reassurance to Shadow that he isn't forgotten.

Cosmo's sending didn't hide the slow plodding footsteps coming up the hill. Recognizing the runner Shadow waited until he heard the footsteps to say anything. Before Speed could open his mouth, Shadow said, "He's gone."

Speed glared at him, "Why is it that every time you visit someone dies?" He demanded.

Shadow gave a humorless chuckle. "Because they wait for me to come to say goodbye, they know I shall never see them again." He turned and looked over his shoulder at the young rebellious hedgehog. "You envy the fact that I never age? I envy you child. One day you shall die, and you will see your grandfather and grandmother again, and Knuckles and even Uncle Tails. I shall never die and I shall never see them again."

"You're not coming back again," Speed said regret in his voice. "Milana's dad was the last reason you had to come here."

"It is easier for me to wander, and be among strangers than to be among those I care about and, watch them deteriorate." Shadow answered. I am leaving in the morning. If you wish, I will speak to your father, and ask him to have you accompany me, on my travels."

"Me?" The declaration took Speed by surprise. "Why would you do that?"

Shadow looked back at the sky slowly turning from blue to violet. "You may not have inherited your grandfather's speed, but you do have his restless nature. I think it would be good for you and for your family if you spent some time adventuring."

"And you'd be willing to put up with me?" Speed asked. Shadow had to suppress a smile. _He may not be able to run like his grandfather, but he did inherit that damn infectious smile._

"I promised your grandfather I would do good wherever I went. I think this qualifies."

"I won't be able to move as fast as Grandpa," Speed reminded him.

"Time means very little to me," Shadow countered him.

Speed looked out at the twilight sky and shrugged. "Sure if you don't mind me around, I'll go with you. Maybe I'll find out what I'm looking for out there."

Shadow nodded, and ignoring Cosmo's laughter, moved away to go find Speed's father, Lightning_. More likely child you'll find out what you're looking for his here at home, but adventuring did your father and grandfather good, and it will do the same for you._

Not yet The End:

Oh and yes there is still one more Epilogue to go. I couldn't leave the ending so sad.


	25. Epilogue2

In Cosmo's Shadow

By Kellie Fay

Disclaimer: Sonic, Shadow, Tails, Cosmo, and the others all belong to SEGA, Team Sonic, 4 Kids and other people not me

I hope you've enjoyed the story I just wish I had more feedback. Keep on the Look out for a story for April Fools and that's no joke.

Epilogue 2

[500 years later]

Shadow looked at the child not believing his own eyes. In front of him stood a hedgehog about 12 inches shorter than himself. His eyes shown an emerald green, and by his build and expression Shadow guessed that he was only seven years old, but what rocked him to his core was the confident air that hung about him, and his cobalt blue fur.

Shadow locked eyes with the child for a second, and even though there was no real recognition the youngster seemed to relax slightly, knowing without understanding why that Shadow meant no harm. In his eyes Shadow saw in his own mind glimpses of the Sonic Hedgehog he knew hundreds of years ago.

Could it be true? Could this child hold the spirit of the hedgehog he knew long ago? Shadow turned to look at the young chipmunk at the blue hedgehog's side. In her eyes could clearly see images of Amy Rose. Shocked and uncertain Shadow fled the group hiding back in the trees.

For four days Shadow spied on these children. The chipmunk and what looked and ran exactly like a younger Sonic seems to be part of a motley group of rebels. Shadow had left his sanctuary in the Cloud Palace to see if the rumors of a human creature using a machine to turn the Mobians into robots were true. The truth was more horrible than the rumors. He was human, he did carry the name of Robotnick, and he did have a machine that could turn the citizens into robots.

There were days afterwards that Shadow would wonder if Doctor Gerald had insanity in his family line. He could only thank whatever gods that existed that it did not touch Maria.

The more he watched the group the more certain he became that somewhere within the bodies of those children lingered the spirits of those he knew over five hundred years ago. His most convincing piece of evidence was that the blue hedgehog had the long lost ability to break the speed of sound when he ran, for no logical reason.

After a month Shadow went back to the Cloud Palace to ask Lord Stratus if such a thing could even be possible.

Only Stratus knew his true age. Only he knew the whole truth about Shadow's existence.

He could never age and never die.

Only he could get away with calling Shadow a child, even though the immortal hedgehog had at least two centuries on the old mutt he looked three hundred years older than Shadow.

"We have known such a thing for some time child," he said causing Shadow's quills to bristle in annoyance. "Souls once lost can return in other forms. They do not remember their past lives, but there are etches within one's soul that makes it easy for one who has the talent to see these things."

Shadow had lived among the monks for about a hundred and thirty years. In that time he learned a great deal about the mind and soul of an individual. He could look at these children and within their souls could see who they once were. Shadow looked up at the monk feeling a longing desperation in his heart.

"What do I do?" He asked his mentor.

Stratus shook his head sternly. "They will not know you, Shadow Hedgehog," he says. "It would not be good for them if you were to force recollection of their past lives upon them. They are new people now. You have to leave your friends back in the past."

"But you said that they are my friends," Shadow demanded. "Should I just ignore that and leave them to their own destinies? How can I even think to do such a thing? That human down there is robotizizing everyone! Should I not even help them?"

Stratus glared down at his rebellious pupil. "I did not say not to help them, and I did not say to leave them to their fate. There is no reason you could not connect with these young Freedom Fighters if you wish, but you must remember even though the souls of your friends are etched within them, they will not know you. Can you look at them, knowing this, and yet dealing with them as they are now, instead of who they were? Can you keep this secrete within you for as long as they live?"

_Could I?_ Shadow wondered. Could he keep this secret until they passed away like their predecessors before them? Did he even want to go through the torture of seeing his friends once again grow old and die?

In the end he become the ancient dark angel Milana threatened to make him in her stories. He became The Shadow Hedgehog, a dark spirit who would protect the Freedom Fighters and watch over them. It was still a lonely existence, but it left him with a sense of satisfaction. Friendships could be forever. Sonic and the others had come back. They may never see him, and never know him again, but they had come back. Stratus always told him that the universe moved in cycles. If they could come back once, they could do so again.

And maybe then Shadow would be ready for them.


End file.
